
Class. 



F-T14- 



< J4-C3T- 



PRESENTED l!Y 




On July 11th, 1796, Fort Lernoult at Detroit was 

Evacuated by the British, the United States 

took possession, and the American Flag 

was first raised over Detroit* 



THE 



Centennial Celebration 



Evacuation of Detroit by the British. 



July n, 1796— July h, 1896. 



Report of the Proceedings, with the Addresses of 

Col. H. M. Duffield, Senator J. C. Burrows, 

and President Jas. B. Angell. 



DETROIT. 

Printed for the Committee. 
1896 



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Gift. 



i,.Th. ftur±crW 



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37 (?1 



John F. Eby & Company, Printers. 
65-67 Congress West. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 

When the War of Independence began in the east its 
effects were almost immediately felt in Detroit, and early 
in 1775 the English made this post the chief military depot 
in the west, and the fitting-out place for the forays to be 
made upon the settlements in Kentucky, Virginia and 
Pennsylvania. The evident intent was to keep the colon- 
ists in the west so busy defending their homes that they 
would be unable to help their brethren in the east. 

With this object in view millions of dollars worth of 
goods were shipped to Detroit and distributed to the 
Indians who were invited here and came by thousands 
from the west and south. On their arrival they were 
feasted and flattered without stint ; clothing, trinkets, fire 
arms, and " red-handled scalping knives " were supplied to 
them in enormous quantities, and on returning from their 
forays they often brought hundreds of scalps and prisoners. 

The defeat of the English in the west was largely 
decided by the capture of Gov. Henry Hamilton of Detroit, 
at Vincennes, by Col. George Rogers Clark, on March 5th, 
1779. That victory and American successes in the east, 
brought about the treaties of 1782 and 1783, which provided 
for the surrender of the western territory by the English. 
The pretext of unsettled claims, and the protests of 
Montreal fur traders, who derived immense revenues from 
this region, delayed the surrender. 



Meanwhile the Indians continued their depredations, 
but finally, on August 30th, 1794, they and their British 
allies were effectually defeated by Major General Anthony 
Wayne, at Fort Miami, and a way was opened for the 
conclusion of the war. 

The final treaty of peace, known as Jay's treaty, was 
made November 19th, 1794 ; it provided for the evacuation 
of Detroit and other western posts on or before June 1st, 
1796. Owing, however, to various obstacles the surrender 
did not take place until July nth, 1796. On that day at 
12 o'clock noon, the English flag was hauled down from 
the flag staff of Fort Lernoult at Detroit, and the same 
day the fort was taken possession of by Captain Moses 
Porter, with a detachment of sixty-five men from General 
Wayne's army, Colonel John F. Hamtramck arriving two 
days later. 1 

The surrender of Detroit on July nth, 1796, clearly 
marks the date of the actual ownership by the United 
States of a territory larger than the original thirteeen 
states, and the final results of such ownership gave us not 
only the control of the Great Lakes, but the Mississippi as 
well, and, indeed, of all the territory clear to the Pacific 
coast. 




REV. RUFUS CLARK, D. D., 
Rector of St. Paul's Church, Detroit. 



EVENTS WHICH LED UP TO THE CELEBRATION OF THE 
CENTENNIAL OF EVACUATION DAY. 

At the banquet of the Michigan Society of the Sons of 
the American Revolution, on February 2 2d, 1896, Rev. 
Rufus W. Clark offered the following resolutions : 

"Whereas, the eleventh day of July will mark the 
one hundredth anniversary of the evacuation by the 
British of our territory and the raising of the Stars and 
Stripes over the City of Detroit, this day is deserving of 
more than passing mention, none being more important 
to us, as Americans and as citizens of this municipality. 
This is a day upon which we may well commemorate the 
achievements of our fathers, the founders of this republic, 
and encourage sentiments of love and devotion to our 
country. It is a day that should be seized upon especially 
by members of this society, to remind a rising generation 
of their priceless heritage in a land no longer dominated 
by a foreign power. 

" 1. Resolved, That the day shall be observed by the 
Michigan Society of the Sons of the American Revolution 
as a time for special rejoicing and for convening the 
members of this society. 

" 2. Resolved, As the day belongs not only to us, but 
to all patriotic citizens, that a committee of five be 
appointed by the chairman of this meeting to consult 
with the city officials, the military authorities at Fort 
Wayne and patriotic societies of Detroit and arrange, if 
possible, upon a plan for the suitable public celebration of 
the day, and for such meetings as befit so rare and 
important an occasion. " 



The resolutions being adopted, Rev. Mr. Clark moved 
that Mr. Fred. T. Sibley be made chairman of the commit- 
tee on celebration. He thought no one more suitable than 
a grandson of Solomon Sibley, the first mayor of Detroit, 
and a man stalwart in all that made for the good of 
Detroit, also a chief justice of the supreme bench, could 
be found to head the committee. Mr. Thomas Jerome 
seconded the nomination in a patriotic speech, and 
ex-Senator Palmer supported the nomination. 

The chairman, Col. Henry M. Duffield, named the 
celebration committee, as follows : Frederick T. Sibley, 
Rev. Rufus W. Clark, Thomas Jerome, J. C. Smith, Jr., 
and Oliver H. Phelps. 

A conference of the various patriotic societies, pro- 
posed by the Society of the Sons of the American Revo- 
lution, February 2 2d, 1896, was held at the parlors of the 
Russell House, in Detroit, on May 2 2d. 

The first meeting of the General Committee was held 
at the Loyal Legion rooms May 25th, at which Gen. R. A. 
Alger presided. There were present : Capt. Cornelius 
Gardener, U. S. A., Don M. Dickinson, E. B. Welton, James 
Vernor, Rev. Rufus W. Clark, Silas Farmer, Frank J. 
Hecker, and Thomas S. Jerome. Mr. Jerome was elected 
secretary. Rev. R. W. Clark stated the objects of the 
meeting. 

It was moved and carried that a celebration be held 
on July nth. 

At a subsequent meeting the committee appointed by 
the chair to name the various committees, reported as 
follows : 




GROUP OF COMMITTEEMEN. 



1. JAMES T. STERLING, 

2. FRANK J. HECKER, 
5. JOHN N. BAGLEY, 
4. CHARLES B. HULL, 

>'. HARRY F. CHIPMAN, 



6. REV. RUFUS W. CLARK, 

7. ELLIO.TT T. SLOCUM, 

8. GEN. A. L. BRESLER, 
<). SILAS FARMER, 

10. THOMAS S. JEROME, 



11. DON M. DICKINSON. 



R. A. Alger, General Chairman. 

Executive Committee. 
Henry M. Duffield, Chairman. Thomas S. Jerome, Sec'y. 
E. T Slocum. Frank J. Hecker. 

Together with the Chairmen of the various Sub-Committees. 

Entertainment Committee. 
W. H. Elliott, Chairman. A. L. Stephens. 

Hervey C. Parke. R. Phelps. 

M. S. Smith. R. H. Fyfe. 

W. C. Maybury. J. B. Moore. 

T. D. Buhl. W. A. Butler, Jr. 

D. J. Campau. W. V. Moore. 

W. J. Chittenden. M. W. O'Brien. 

Collins B. Hubbard. 

Programme Committee. 
Rufus W. Clark, Chairman. John N. Bagley. 

James Vernor. Charles Flowers. 

Henry S. Sibley. E. T. Slocum. 

Tablet Committee. 
Silas Farmer, Chairman. Louis A. Arthur. 

A. H. Griffith. 

Parade Committee. 
James T. Sterling, Chairman. August Goebel. 
Cornelius Gardener, U. S. A. Charles Dupont. 

H. B. Lothrop. Charles Reid. 

John Atkinson. Gilbert Wilkes. 

A. L. Bresler. 

Press Committee. 
James E. Scripps, Chairman. W. Livingstone. Jr. 

A. G. Boynton. P. C. Baker. 

J. J. Emery. 



Music Committee. 

John N. Bagley, Chairman. F. W. Eddy. 

S. T. Douglas. Ford D. C. Hinchman. 

Finance Committee. 

George H. Russel, Chairman. Marvin Preston. 

George N. Brady. Charles Wright. 

A. E. F. White. Charles Stinchfield. 

James E. Davis. John T. Shaw. 

George H. Hopkins. E. B. Welton. 

Charles Dean. R. W. Jacklin. 

Hamilton Dey. 

Invitation Committee. 
Don M. Dickinson, Chairman. Simon Snyder, U. S. A. 
Thomas W. Palmer. Allan Shelden. 

William C. McMillan. 

Carriage Committee. 

Charles B. Hull, Chairman. S. S. Babcock. 

George H. Barbour. F. T. Moran, 

Strathearn Hendrie. 

Badge Committee. 

Frank H. Walker, Chairman. H. M. Campbell. 

W. G. Thompson. Clarence Carpenter. 

Harry B. Joy. 

Committee in Charge of Building. 
Harry F. Chipman, Chairman. R. G. Butler. 
E W. Cottrell. Peter Diederich. 

F. E. Farnsworth. Edwin Henderson. 

Arthur L. Holmes. 




HON. JOHN T. RICH, 
Governor of Michigan. 



THE GOVERNOR'S PROCLAMATION, 

To the People of the State of Michigan : 

For many years after the cessation of active hostil- 
ities between Great Britain and the United States in 
the Revolutionary War, the British refused to carry out 
the terms of the peace and surrender to the Americans 
the territory they had won, and it was not until the 
nth of July, 1796, at Detroit, that the British flag finally 
ceased to float over any part of the country whose inde- 
pendence had been acknowledged thirteen years before. 

It is proposed to recognize the centennial of the 
evacuation of Detroit by the British, by a celebration 
at Detroit on the nth day of next July. The importance 
of this event to the nation, and especially to the great 
middle and western states, demands fitting recognition 
from the executive of the state, and every citizen who can 
do so is earnestly urged to attend the celebration of the 
anniversary of this memorable event. 

The definite and final yielding up of this western 
region gave the Federal government the control not only 
of the great lakes, but eventually of the Mississippi as 
well, and indeed, in its finality, of all our western territory 
clear to the Pacific coast. 

On that date the American flag with its fifteen stars 
was first raised over our soil, and its raising meant the 
speedy founding of the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 



With the raising of the flag on July u, 1796, British 
domination over any part of our country ceased, the 
"rebels" then living here breathed freely, and the way 
was opened for all the blessings we now enjoy as a part of 
the United States of America. 

In historic interest and importance no other date 
in connection with the west is of equal value, for the 
surrender of Detroit marked the close of the War of 
the Revolution and the final accomplishment of the 
results fought for by our fathers during so many years, 
and the date of that event should excite patriotic loyalty 
in the breast of every member of the commonwealth and 
be treasured in the memory of every citizen. 

Given under my hand and the great seal of the State, 
at the capitol, in Lansing, this 24th day of June, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety- 
six, and of the independence of the United States the one 
hundred and twentieth. 

JOHN T. RICH. 

By the Governor, 

WASHINGTON GARDNER, 

Secretary of State. 



10 



THE CELEBRATION, 

Saturday, the nth of July, 1896, was a bright, clear 
and beautiful day, rather warm, but not excessively so. 
The patriotism of Detroit was fully aroused, and the city 
was gay with flags and streamers of the national colors. 
The City Hall had been decorated at a cost of over $500 
alone. A great many people had come into the city from 
the interior of the State, and the streets were thronged 
throughout the day. 

Appropriately, the public exercises were held in the 
unfinished Federal Building, which occupies the exact site 
of Fort Lernoult, surrendered to the United States on 
July nth, 1796. The interior had been fitted up for the 
occasion, under the superintendence of Harry F. Chipman, 
chairman of the committeee on building. On the north 
side a spacious platform had been erected, capable of 
accommodating some 700 persons. In front of the plat- 
form, the unfinished brick floor, covered with sawdust, was 
seated with about 3,000 chairs. A railed-in passage way 
extended from the platform steps to the Fort street 
entrance. To the west of this, admission was had by 
tickets distributed by the members of the various com- 
mittees ; to the east, entrance from Shelby street, tickets 
were not required. It was estimated that 3,500 persons 
were present during the exercises. 

The decorations of the building were very effective. 
From the open girders overhead depended festoons of red, 



11 



white and blue bunting, through which the sun's rays pro- 
duced a most beautiful effect. Over the speakers' stand 
hung the American flag and a large portrait of George 
Washington. The rough brick walls were decorated with 
the flags and arms of the several states comprised in 
the old northwestern territory, possession of which was 
secured by the United States by the evacuation of Detroit, 
the event celebrated. The iron columns were covered 
with colored cloth and gaily decorated. At the left of the 
speakers' stand stood a section of the flag staff of the old 
fort, recovered some years ago in making an excavation 
on the site, and now in possession of the Detroit Museum 
of Art. 

On the platform were seated the following organiza- 
tions : 

The Officers of the City Government. 

The Sons of the American Revolution. 

The Daughters of the American Revolution. 

The Daughters of the War of 1812. 

The Michigan Society of Colonial Dames of America. 

The Loyal Legion. 

Fairbanks Post, Grand Army of the Republic. 

Detroit Post, Grand Army of the Republic. 

John Brown Post, Grand Army of the Republic. 

Girls' Auxiliary of Farquhar Post No. 162. 

Women's Relief Corps. 

U. S. Grant Command, Union Veterans' Union. 

Mexican Veterans, including Col. H. S. Dean, Geo. W. 
Walters, S. W. Perry and Oliver Geary. 

Among other occupants of the platform were: His 
Excellency Gov. John T. Rich, accompanied by his staff — 
Gen. W. S. Green, Gen. J. H. Kidd, Gen. Joseph Walsh, 
Col. W. A. Gavett, Col. Lou Burt, Lieut.-Col. W. W. Cook 



12 



and Lieut. -Col. S. H. Avery, all in full uniform; Gen. R. 
A. Alger, Col. Henry M. Duffield, Hon. J. C. Burrows, 
President James B. Angell of the University of Michigan; 
Rt. Rev. G. Mott Williams, D. D., Bishop of Marquette; 
Charles Flowers, City Counsellor; Rt. Rev. John S. Foley, 
D. D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Detroit; Hon. Henry M. 
Swan, U. S. District Judge; Hon. Claudius B. Grant. Hon. 
J. B. Moore and Hon. Frank A. Hooker, Justices of the 
Supreme Court of Michigan; Judge Wm. L. Carpenter 
and Judge George S. Hosmer of the Wayne Circuit Court; 
State Treasurer J. M. Wilkinson; Prof. A. C. McLaughlin 
of the State University; ex-Congressman Wm. C. May bury; 
Joseph T. Jacobs, of Ann Arbor, member of the U. S. 
Indian Commission; Capt. Hinds, of Stanton; J. Q. A. 
Sessions, of Ann Arbor; Col. J. S. Farrar, of Mt. Clemens; 
George Newell, of Flint; Robert Campbell, of Ann Arbor; 
Gen. Luther S. Trowbridge, Maj. James Vincent, Dexter 
M. Ferry, Col. Frank J. Hecker, the members of the 
executive committee, and W. R, Shelby, of Grand Rapids, 
a great-grandson of Gov. Shelby of Kentucky after whom 
Fort Shelby was named. Mr. Shelby had with him a spy- 
glass captured from one of the British ships at the battle 
of Lake Erie by Commodore Perry. 

While waiting for the audience to arrive and become 
seated, the Metropolitan Band played a number of 
patriotic airs. 



J 3 



THE PUBLIC EXERCISES, 

At 10:30 o'clock the chairman of the day, Gen. R. A. 
Alger, called the great assemblage to order and read the 
following opening address: 

Fellow Citizens — We gather upon this historic spot to-day 
to commemorate the last act of our heroic forefathers in 
the War of the Revolution. 

It was upon these grounds, occupied by this stately 
building, that old Fort Lernoult was situated ; a fort 
erected by the British army to resist the assaults of those 
patriots who were battling for the liberty they won — the 
liberty we enjoy to-day. 

It was here, one hundred years ago to-day, that the 
flag of the enemy was hauled down, and our own Stars and 
Stripes run to the mast head, then with but fifteen stars in 
its azure field — to-day, forty-five ; the flag that was never 
lowered to any foe, and floats over the richest and best 
nation in the world. 

In no boastful spirit do we come, nor in vain-glorious 
triumph at our victory, but with a just pride in the valor 
of our ancestors, and thankfulness to Almighty Providence 
that the ground broken by the sword of war has borne to 
us the blessed fruits of peace. 

The history of the world is marked by epochs of war, 
and the chief glory of every nation is the valor of its 
defenders. It is well that this is so, for in our peaceful 
pursuits, we are too apt to forget the cost of the blessings 
we enjoy, and not until the drum sounds the signal to arms, 
is it that we stop to consider what it costs to build or 
save a nation. 



14 




GEN. R. A. ALGER. 
Ex-Governor of .Michigan. 



As in the frequent experience of individuals, the bit- 
terest enemies, reconciled, form the strongest ties of friend- 
ship, so with nations — those which do battle with each 
other, when peace is declared, often make the strongest 
allies. 

As we are at peace with the mother country to-day 
and look upon its people with no envy as they live under 
the benign rule of their mother queen, so may we hope 
that war shall never again come between us. We are too 
great to boast, too strong to fear invasion. We covet the 
possessions of no other nation, nor do we fear for the 
safety of our own. To us all to-day war is but an echo- 
ing memorj 7 , and not an expectation. 

Among us here to-day are veterans of the Mexican War, 
and many of that grand host whose courage crushed the 
standards of secession and wove the web of our destiny 
into eternal unity. 

To them and those of their comrades who returned not 
with them, to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice, I know a 
grateful people will ever rise up to give the meed of praise 
they so fairly won. 

Detroit welcomes here to-day, many distinguished 
guests. It presents no battlements or ramparts to the 
view, as it needs none for its protection, but in their stead 
shows you busy factories, whose belching mouths, night 
and day, blacken the sky with the smoke of industry. 
These are the truest monuments to the peace whose noble 
path was cut by war. 

Rt. Rev. G. Mott Williams, D. D., then offered prayer, 
as follows : 



i5 



THE PRAYER, 

O God of our fathers, our hope and strength, we bless 
thy Holy Name for the faith of those great men who won 
our independence and framed the constitutional govern- 
ment of these United States. We bless thee for the inher- 
itance of civil and religious liberty, and for the many 
shining examples of patriotism given us by citizens of this 
land in peace and war. 

We thank thee that so many of those who have been 
welcomed to our shores, while needing an asylum, have 
rendered the State so good an account for her charity, and 
we pray thee that the first acquisition of those who come 
to us may be a love of their fostering mother. 

We thank thee for boundaries so vast, so inclusive, so 
rich and so commanding, for the great gift of national inde- 
pendence, and because thy wise providence in severing 
the ties which bound us to the motherland, left us still in 
laws, character and customs the best part of the inherit- 
ance of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

We bless thee that the transfer of government which 
we celebrate to-day was made in peace and not in war, a 
result of treaties, not of blows, of reason, not of force, and 
we especially thank thee that this peaceful transfer of 
government between kindred peoples has been followed 
by so many years of honorable peace, but once broken, 
and now for four-score years unmarred. 

And we beseech thee that the present peace of this 
frontier may continue by thy favor, and by the virtue, the 
self-control, the wisdom and brotherliness of these peoples^ 
and that we especially may walk worthy of high calling 
among the nations. 

16 







THE TABLET. 



We confess, O God, our manifold shortcomings as men, 
as citizens and as a nation ; forgive us, but forsake us not. 

Let there be peace and truth in our days, pure religion 
and domestic happiness. Bless the President and every 
arm of government ; sanctify our lives, our families, our 
homes and our schools ; make us love our country truly 
and honestly; and grant the course of the whole world 
may be so peacefully ordered by thy government that thy 
church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness 
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, according to whose teach- 
ing we are bold to say : 

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy 
name, etc. Amen ! 

The Boylston Club then led in the singing of the 
hymn, "My Country, 'tis of Thee," in which the entire 
audience heartily joined. 

UNVEILING OF THE MEMORIAL TABLET, 

While the band played the "Star Spangled Banner," 
the chairman, together with Mr. Shelby, representing the 
Sons of the American Revolution, and Mr. Silas Farmer, 
representing the committee, proceeded to the Fort street 
entrance, where the tablet has been placed by a special 
Act of Congress. The invited guests, and the presidents 
and commanders of the patriotic societies were also there 
assembled. 

In their presence and before the throng outside of the 
building, Gen. Alger withdrew the veiling and said : " In 
behalf of the heroes who gave us this land of liberty, and 
in remembrance of them, I humbly unveil this tablet." 

The flag was then raised upon the Federal Building 
and a salute of twenty- one guns was then fired by the 
United States Revenue Cutter "Fessenden," at anchor in 
the Detroit River. 



When all had returned to the platform the chairman 
said that it had been expected that Mayor Hazen S. Pingree 
would be present to welcome the distinguished guests, but 
in his absence, Hon. Charles Flowers, City Counselor, would 
perform that duty. 

THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME, 

BY HON. CHARLES FLOWERS. 

The City of Detroit, upon this centennial day, gives 
greeting and welcome to the men and women whose fore- 
fathers, by reason of their sublime courage, and their 
fidelity to a living and glowing principle, made it neces- 
sary for their foes to strike their flag, and bid farewell to 
so fair and so vast an empire. 

To the descendants of the brave men who lingered 
upon the shores of this majestic river, the City of Detroit 
also gives greeting and welcome. With them we have no 
quarrel. The hour struck in the fateful history of the 
world for those of one language, one religion and one 
blood, to stand upon the broad road of national life, where 
the ways parted. The day of separation had come. 

It is well for us to remember those days. The patriotic 
heart has not grown cold. The genius of greed has not 
wholly possessed the land. Amid -the sound and fury and 
madness of partisan strife, amid the insane thirst and 
hunger for power and advantage, the attentive ear can 
still catch, as coming from a million breasts, the breathings 
of a spirit, responsive to the agony of those who suffered 
with Washington at Valley Forge, responsive to the ecstasy 
of those who rejoiced with him at Yorktown. 

The City of Detroit gives greeting and welcome to 
you all. It does not ask your nationality or your faith. It 

18 



only asks if you are true to the cause of individual liberty 
and equality, the principles represented by the beautiful 
banner, which upon this golden day so peacefully and so 
solemnly floats above your heads. 

Messrs. Homer Warren and Robert Murray then sang 
" The Sword of Bunker Hill." They alternated in singing 
the verses, and both were cheered most heartily, and were 
compelled to repeat the last verse. 

Gen. Alger said he would introduce a brave soldier 
well known throughout the state to make the historical 
address, and Col. Duffield was loudly applauded as he 
came to the speaking stand. He was listened to with 
close and noiseless attention. His address was as follows : 



THE HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 

BY COL. HENRY M. DUFFIELD. 

The scene of the last act in the great drama of the 
Revolutionary War — its final triumph — was laid in Detroit. 
One hundred years ago the British troops evacuated this 
post and with them departed the last vestige of England's 
rule from the northwest. 

To understand its full significance a brief outline of 
the situation and the events which preceded it is necessary. 

Detroit at this period is thus described by Mc Master : 
" Detroit alone was worthy to be called a town. The 
place was founded in 1783, and, except in population, had 
never taken one step forward since the first hut was put 
up on the straits. The inhabitants were believed to 
number three thousand. In language and customs they 
were French. In religion they were Roman Catholics. 
In knowledge of the affairs of the world they were 
extremely ignorant. For a hundred years the farms of 

'9 



precisely the same size had been kept in the same 
families, and cultivated with the same kind of implements 
in the same way. The house of each farmer was close to 
the road, and the road was close to the water's edge. 
Near each house was an orchard, and in each orchard the 
same kind of fruit trees were to be seen. Year after year 
the same crops were raised in the same succession. When 
a patch of land became exhausted it was suffered to lie 
fallow. Of the value of manure the farmers knew 
nothing, and wantonly flung the yield of the barnyard 
into the waters of the straits. To go to church regularly, 
to perform their religious duties strictly, to fast, to confess, 
and to pay their tithes to the priest promptly, was with 
them sthe chief duty of man. The priest was the one 
being on earth to whom they looked up with mingled 
love and awe. He was their spiritual and their temporal 
guide. He healed all quarrels and adjusted all disputes. 
With courts and judges, lawyers and juries, they would 
have nothing to do. Indeed, the first appearance of such 
among them was the occasion of an outburst of indigna- 
tion which was with difficulty soothed. Many resolved 
to dwell no longer in a land where life and property were 
at the disposal of godless men, gathered their goods and 
went over the border to the Canadian side. The town 
proper was made up of the fort, the battery, and a 
collection of ugly houses surrounded by a high stockade. 
The streets were a rod wide, and the inhabitants chiefly 
engaged in the fur trade. A few went out to the trapping 
grounds themselves. Others sent out Pawnee Indians 
whom they had purchased and made slaves. " 

From Griswold to Cass street, and Larned street to 
the river was surrounded by a stockade. There were 
four gates on each side with block houses over each 



20 



rm 0Br 

mil, 




on the east, west and north sides. Each block house had 
four six-pounders and there were also two batteries of six 
guns each facing- the river. Back of the stockade was 
Fort Lernoult, which had been erected in 1778 by the 
orders of Major R. B. Lernoult. It was located between 
what are now Griswold and Wayne streets, and extended 
from Lafayette street south of Fort street. It was well 
designed and thoroughly constructed. Work upon it was 
prosecuted from November, 1778, without intermission, 
till after the following March. This fort was no part 
of the town, but had its entrance toward the town by 
a passage way underneath the trees with a drawbridge 
over the ditch. The citadel on what is now the corner 
of Jefferson avenue and Wayne street, was connected with 
the fort by a subterranean passage along the route of 
which was the powder magazine. On each side of the 
entrance of the fort was an iron twenty-four-pounder, 
while each side of the fort was defended by two twenty- 
four-pounders and four cannon were placed at each 
bastion. The flag staff was in the southwest angle of the 
fort in the lot where the Owen residence now stands. 

The surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington in 
1 781, followed by the preliminary treaty of peace between 
Great Britain and the United States, agreed upon at Paris, 
November 30th, 1782, theoretically determined the bound- 
aries of the new republic. The thirteen British colonies 
in North America, which had thus become the thirteen 
United States of North America, represented clear and 
definite ideas, politically and socially, but the boundaries 
of the territory were only vaguely determined. The 
United States described in the instructions to John Adams 
in 1779, was quite a different country geographically from 
the same United States whose independence was acknowl- 



edged in Paris in 1782. Neither England nor Spain 
regarded the treaty of Paris as finally settling the destiny 
of the country of the United States west of the mountains. 

Although that grand prologue to the constitution and 
forerunner of national emancipation, the ordinance of 
1787, proclaimed eternal freedom for the northwest 
territory, its boundaries were indefinite, and it had not 
yet been surrendered by the British. While in the treaty 
of Paris in 1782, His Britannic Majesty promised, among 
other things, " to withdraw all his armies, garrisons and 
fleets from said United States, and from every post, place 
and harbor within the same, with all convenient speed," 
there w r as still left unsettled a question of territory larger 
than the one which brought on the French and Indian 
war in 1754. In addition to this indefiniteness of 
boundary, the relation between the new government and 
the former colonies, now matured into states, was novel 
and peculiar, and their respective rights over this territory 
not yet determined. 

In the beginning the government of the United States 
was distinctly federal rather than national, and large 
portions of the territory of the northwest were within the 
original boundaries of the respective colonies and were 
claimed to have passed to them when they were erected 
into states. At the same time France was provoked by 
the treaties entered into by the United States with 
England and Spain, and looked with longing eyes upon 
these vast possessions which less than half a century 
before had been wrested from her by Great Britain. Most 
of the settlers in the territory were English or French. 
The posts were the depots or stations of the increasingly 
lucrative fur trade, so desirable in the minds of Europeans. 
These considerations and the very natural desire of 

22 



England to interpose between her possessions in America 
and the new United States a territory of neutral ground 
fairly in the hands of the savages — constituting a "buffer 
state " between the United States and Canada — were the 
real reasons for the unjustifiable delay in carrying out the 
treaty, and with all convenient speed " withdrawing the 
British armies, garrisons and fleets from the United 
States and every post, place and harbor within the same." 
While England attempted to justify this delay upon the 
ground that the United States had on their part violated 
their promises in the treaty, these claims were completely 
refuted by Jefferson, then Secretary of State in 1793, in his 
correspondence with Mr. Hammond, the envoy extraordi- 
nary of Great Britain. Whatever may have been the 
true cause of the delay, the result was, that for thirteen 
years the northwestern posts " were sharp thorns in the 
sides of the United States." Exhausting as had been the 
War of the Revolution to the young nation, it was com- 
pelled to continue an harassing Indian war, that only 
ceased with the brilliant victory of General Wayne at the 
battle of the Fallen Timbers in 1794. 

In July, 1783, the request of Washington, through 
Baron Steuben, for a transfer of possession of Detroit, 
Mackinac and Oswego, and the minor posts, was met with 
an insolent refusal on the part of General Haldiman, the 
British commander in Canada. 

In the following year General William Hull was sent, 
with the approval of Congress, to induce Haldiman to give 
up the post, but he met with a like refusal. 

In 1786, President Adams, then minister to England, 
informed Congress that he had made a demand for the 
western posts, and had been refused on the stale pretense, 
so conclusively answered by Jefferson, that many of the 

23 



states had violated the treaty in regard to payment of 
British debts. 

Matters were further complicated by the active efforts 
of Dr. John Connolly, a Virginian tory, to induce the 
Kentucky settlers to take sides with the English, with the 
purpose of wresting Louisiana from Spain, and securing 
the free navigation of the Mississippi. In 1787 and 1788, 
he was in Detroit a considerable portion of the time. The 
English settlers urged the retention of Detroit, and in 
June, 1787, the garrison was re-enforced by a full regiment 
and two companies, making a force of more than two regi- 
ments. In pursuance of the plan to hold the post, Lord 
Dorchester personally visited Detroit in 1788, and, under 
his directions, the town was doubly picketed, and other 
defensive works erected. In 1790, John Knox, then United 
States Secretary-of-War, wrote to Governor St. Clair, that 
it was reported that Benedict Arnold was in Detroit about 
the first of June, and that he had reviewed the militia 
there. In the same year President Washington, who, with 
clear foresight, very soon after the treaty of 1782, had 
prophesied " that England would retain the posts as long 
as they could be held under any pretense whatever," 
communicated to his cabinet his apprehensions that Lord 
Dorchester contemplated sending an expedition from 
Detroit against Louisiana. Meantime the Indians had 
grown increasingly hostile under the encouragement of 
the British. 

In 1786 a grand confederate council of the Indians 
northwest of the Ohio was held at the mouth of the 
Detroit River. It was attended by the Six Nations, the 
Hurons, Ottawas, Maumees, Shawnees, Chippewas, 
Cherokees, Delawares, Pottawattamies, and the confeder- 
ates of the Wabash. The question of difference was one 

24 



of boundary. The Indians insisted that the Americans 
should not cross the Ohio River, but there was no intima- 
tion of war, provided the United States did not encroach 
on the Indian land. While there was a treaty between 
Great Britain and the United States concerning this terri- 
tory, the Indians were not included in it, and the savages 
complained that the United States would "kindle the 
council fires wherever they thought proper without con- 
sulting the Indians."- Closely following this council, the 
Hurons of Detroit sent a message, sealed with strings of 
wampum, to the Five Nations, complaining of the delay 
of the Americans in answering their message, and desiring 
the Five Nations "to be strong and punctual of your 
promises to be with us early and in time." As an evidence 
of the intimate relations between the British and *the 
Indians, an account of the proceedings of this council was 
forwarded to Lord Dorchester. 

In 1 79 1 Canada was divided into an upper and lower 
province, the former being placed under the administra- 
tion of Col. T. S. Simcoe, who established his headquarters 
as governor of the newly organized territory at Niagara. 
He, with the British agents, Col. McKee, Capt. Elliott and 
the notorious Simon Girty, threw all their influence 
against the United States, and it is affirmed that Lord 
Dorchester assisted their efforts by a speech to the Seven 
Nations of Canada, as well as all the other Indians at the 
grand council. Governor Simcoe proceeded to Detroit, 
and thence, with a strong detachment, to the foot of the 
Miami Rapids, where he erected a fortress. Undoubtedly 
his fort was built primarily to defend Detroit. It was, in 
fact, the re-occupation of a position held by the British 
during the latter part of the Revolution, the evacuation of 
which had been bad policy. 

25 



During the whole period, Detroit was the theatre of 
its most interesting- councils. It was represented by the 
half-breeds of the place to the savages around the post, 
and also to remote tribes, that Governor Simcoe was to 
inarch to their aid with fifteen hundred men; that he was 
giving clothing and all necessary supplies; that all the 
speeches sent to them were red as blood; the wampum 
and the feathers, the war pipes and the hatchets, and even 
the tobacco was painted red. At one time Alexander 
McKenzie, an agent of the British government, was 
employed to paint himself as an Indian, and he convened 
a grand council at Detroit, exhibiting himself with pipes 
and wampum as the credentials of his authority. 

Elliott and the other British residents addressed the 
council, stating that McKenzie was an ambassador who 
had returned from the remote tribes of the upper lakes 
and that their bands were armed with the tomahawk and 
scalping knife and were ready to fall upon the Americans, 
and that the savages upon the banks of the Mississippi 
were prepared to descend and attack the settlements of 
Virginia and Ohio. McKenzie spoke the Indian language 
with fluency and preserved his character to the life. He 
was aided in his deception by some of the Wyandottes and 
Shawnees, who were acquainted with his secret and in the 
conspiracy. These means brought into the field against 
the United States, the Ottawas, the Miamis, the Pottawat- 
tamies, the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Chippewas, and 
the Seven Nations of Canada. Many of the French 
traders at Detroit and in Michigan, induced by the fear 
that if they did not join the Indian cause they would not 
be permitted to trade with the Indians in their own 
territory, took up arms against the United States. Thus 
the United States was met on the one hand with the 

26 



refusal of Great Britain to yield up the posts, and on the 
other with the organized and armed opposition of the 
savages to any interferences with the territory which they 
claimed as their own. 

Peaceable negotiations with the Indians who had 
gradually strengthened into a confederation of tribes 
throughout the western forests was attempted but without 
success. General Harmar with a force of fourteen 
hundred men was then sent to subdue the savages. He 
succeeded in destroying and laying waste many of their 
villages and fields, but his advance was checked near 
Chillicothe, Ohio, where he was defeated in October, 1790, 
with great slaughter. After his defeat the Indians daily 
paraded the streets of Dettoit, exhibiting in triumph the 
scalps of American soldiers. 

In 1792 Governor St. Clair succeeded in command and 
marched into the wilderness with an army of two thousand 
men. He was surprised near the Miami villages by the 
Indians under the command of Little Turtle, and notwith- 
standing his great personal gallantry in his efforts to rally 
his retreating forces, he was forced to retreat with very 
heavy loss. 

These successive repulses aroused Congress to a 
vigorous prosecution of the war, and General Anthony 
Wayne was put in command of the forces. His fame in 
the Revolutionary War had preceded him, and the Indians 
feared him. They credited him not only with bravery to 
rashness but with much stratagem and cunning, and 
named him the Black Snake. He proceeded with charac- 
teristic energy. In the latter part of 1793, he erected a 
stockade on the site of St. Clair's defeat, which he called 
Fort Recovery, and having fully matured his plans, on the 
4th of July, 1794 followed the savages into the depths of 

27 



the wilderness. Cautiously moving down the left bank of 
the Maumee, he reached the rapids about the 19th of 
August, and erected a small work called Fort Deposit, 
about four miles above the British post. He found the 
Indians entrenched under the very shadow of the English 
fort, which had been fortified not long before by a force 
sent from Detroit. General Wayne, therefore, prepared 
himself to act defensively against both civilized and 
savage foe. His army amounted to about three thousand 
men. Opposed to him was the Indian league which 
extended throughout the whole northwestern frontier. 

On the 30th August, 1794, he attacked the savages. 

His plan of battle was to send forward a battalion 
of mounted riflemen with instructions if attacked, to 
retreat in apparent confusion in order to entice the 
savages into a less advantageous position, and upon con- 
certed signals to turn with his infantry, which included 
the renowned Wayne legion, the right flank of the enemy. 
But the day was rainy, the signals from the drums could 
not be distinctly heard and the plan was not wholly 
executed. His victory, however, was complete. After 
a stubborn resistance, the savages were defeated and fled 
to the very walls of Fort Miami. The battle is known 
in history as the battle of the Fallen Timbers. After the 
Indians had retreated, General Wayne devastated their 
fields and burned their buildings, among them the house 
of Col. McKee. While he had defeated the Indians he 
did not know how soon he must defend himself against 
an attack by the British from the fort, but in the crisis the 
doughty warrior never flinched. He proudly paraded his 
army in front of the fort and although he saw the British 
gunners standing at their guns with lighted matches 
in their hands, eagerly awaiting the order to fire, he 

28 



rode forward with his staff to the very battlements and 
reconnoitered the position with the utmost deliberation. 
No attack was made upon him and he advanced by easy 
marches toward Fort Defiance, destroying the Indian 
cornfields on the bottom lands of the Maumee, then 
proceeded up the Maumee River and built Fort Wayne. 

There is no doubt that in this battle a detachment of 
militia from Detroit were associated and fought with 
the Indians, General Wayne in his official report describes 
the enemy " a combined force of the hostile Indians and a 
considerable number of the volunteers and militia of 
Detroit. " A Mr. Smith, clerk of the court at Detroit, 
was killed in the action at the head of a company which 
fought against the Americans. 

It was estimated that thirteen hundred Indians fled to 
Detroit for British protection after the battle. In the 
fall of that year Governor Simcoe approved of the pro- 
vision of an extra surgeon and another hospital and made 
extensive preparations to strengthen the post at Detroit. 
Fort Lernoult was newly fortified, a new block house 
erected, and six boats ordered to be built at Chatham. 
Simcoe still encouraged the Indians. He told them that 
Ohio was their right and title and that he had given 
orders to the commandant at Fort Miami to fire on 
the Americans when they made their appearance again, 
but the Indians had been severely punished by General 
Wayne and were distrustful of the ability of the English 
to protect them. The battle of the Fallen Timbers ended 
all the Indian hostilities for the time being and was 
followed in the next year by the treaty of Greenville. 
Before this, and almost contemporaneous with Wayne's 
victory, Jay's admirable diplomacy had accomplished the 

29 



treaty of 1794 which bears his name, under which 
England bound herself to deliver up the northwestern 
posts. 

The treaty called for the surrender of the post by the 
British on June 1st, 1796, but the order to evacuate was not 
given until June 2d. It was dated at Quebec and signed 
by George Beckwith, adjutant general. 

On the 7th day of July, 1796, General Hamtramck sent 
on to Detroit two small vessels from Fort Miami with 
a detachment of artillery and infantry consisting of sixty- 
five men, together with a number of cannon with ammuni- 
tion, etc., under the command of Captain Moses Porter. 
Upon his arrival on the nth of July, the British troops, 
under the command of Col. Richard England, evacuated 
the town. The Union Jack was hauled down, Old Glory 
floated on the breeze, and Detroit was free. 

Under the benign influence of the constitution and 
the incomparable privileges of the ordinance of 1787, the 
little post of 3,000 souls has grown in a single century to a 
superb and peerless city, and the wilderness of the north- 
west is jeweled with the happy homes of millions of 
freemen. 



THE ORATION, 

BY HON. JULIUS C, BURROWS. 

Fellow Citizens — That patriotic impulse which prompts 
the people to search out, preserve, dedicate, and fittingly 
mark, with tablet or monument, the places of historic 
interest along the highway of a nation's course, made 
memorable by the happening of some important event in 
the history of the country, is a spirit deserving the highest 
commendation. It is prompted by and serves a double 
purpose. It not only pays a fitting tribute to the memory 
of the actors in such events, but it serves, for all times, as 
an inspiration to the passing generations. We may read, 
unmoved, the story of the Pilgrim Fathers, or the history 
of the Declaration of Independence, but we cannot stand 
on Plymouth Rock, or within the shadow of Independence 
Hall, without feeling a quicker heart-throb, and being 
imbued with something of that spirit of devotion to the 
cause of civil and religious liberty, which inspired the men 
and women who made these places immortal. I regard, 
therefore, every step taken toward the preservation of 
these landmarks of history as most auspicious omens. 

And here I pause to say that public acknowledgment 
ought to be made to those patriotic orders, in the United 
States, engaged to-day in the laudable undertaking of res- 
cuing from oblivion and preserving from desecration, 
places made historic by the events which there transpired. 
They are not only writing history, but they are doing that 
which will exert a silent, yet potent, influence on all the 
generations to come. In this spirit, and with this purpose, 
we mark to-day a spot of historic interest, not only to the 
state, but to the nation. In recognition of the importance 



of the event, the Congress of the United States co-oper- 
ates in the designating and preserving of the place which 
will be forever memorable in the annals of our country. 

Here it was, a hundred years ago, that the British flag 
gave way to the banner of the republic, and the Stars and 
Stripes were unfurled in token of the sovereignty of the 
United States. I have neither the time, nor is this the occa- 
sion, to rehearse the story of the struggle of the colonies 
for national independence. It is sufficient for my purpose 
to-day to say that the termination of the War of the Revo- 
lution found the British government in possession of the 
military posts on the western frontiers, among the most 
important of which was that at Detroit, which she had occu- 
pied since the French relinquished their claim to the terri- 
tory in 1760. The seat of war for national independence 
being chiefly confined within the limits of the colonies par- 
ticipating in the struggle, England was permitted to hold 
these outlying posts practically undisturbed, which she 
used as recruiting stations for her Indian allies, whom 
she invited into her service, and whom she subsequently 
employed to harass the settlers on the frontier, and impede, 
if not prevent, the settlement of the northwest territory. 

These points were too remote, and the forces holding 
them too insignificant to engage the attention of the 
Continental army. By the terms of the treaty of peace, 
however, between Great Britain and the United States, 
concluded in 1783, it was expressly stipulated and agreed 
that " His Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient 
speed, and without causing any destruction of property, or 
carrying away any negroes or other property of the 
American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons 
and fleets from the United States, and from every part, 
place and harbor within the same." 



32 



A strict compliance with the terms of this treaty, 
imposed upon Great Britain the obligation to withdraw 
her military forces from every portion of the territory of 
the United States and abandon all assumption of power 
over any part of their domain. 

It is a matter of history, however, that the British 
government, while conforming to the terms of the treaty 
within the limits of the states, persisted for a period of 
nearly thirteen years thereafter in retaining possession of 
the posts on the frontier, including that of Detroit, and in 
exercising authority and asserting dominion over an 
extensive territory in the northwest. 

After the close of the war, and during the entire 
period of the existence of the government of the confed- 
eration, and prolonged under the national constitution of 
1787, even until near the close of Washington's second 
administration as President of the United States, the 
British flag continued to float over a British garrison 
quartered within the limits of this city. To us of to-day, 
removed by more than a century of time from these 
startling events, it seems incredible that the British 
government should have been permitted to have asserted 
and maintained even a show of authority over any portion 
of the territory of the United States. Circumstances, 
however, contributed to this assumption of power, and 
rendered its exercise comparatively safe. The country 
had just emerged from a protracted and exhaustive 
struggle for independence and found itself with a bank- 
rupt treasury and a ruined credit. The government of the 
confederation set up in 1781, and continued until 1789, was 
too feeble to command confidence at home or respect 
abroad, and was powerless to assert itself even within the 
limits of the confederated states. 



Z3 



It has been well said, " The Continental Congress, 
under the articles of confederation, may make and 
conclude treaties, but can only recommend the observance 
of them. They may appoint ambassadors, but they can- 
not defray even the expenses of their table. They may 
borrow money in their own name on the faith of the union, 
but they cannot pay a dollar. They may coin money, but 
they cannot import an ounce of bullion. They may make 
war and determine the number of troops necessary to 
carry it on, but they are powerless to raise a single soldier. 
In short, they may declare everything, but they can do 
nothing." 

Such was the character of the government set up 
during the struggle for independence, and permitted to 
continue until the 4th of March, 1789. It is not surprising, 
therefore, that Great Britain, in the continued occupancy 
of these western posts, after the treaty of 1783, should be 
wholly indifferent to the wishes or existence of a govern- 
ment rapidly falling into decay, and should be actuated in 
her course solely by considerations of personal interest. 

What these considerations were which prompted the 
retention of these posts, history fails fully to disclose; but 
that they were inimical to the interests of the United 
States does not admit of question. It is not improbable 
that considerations of trade, to the promotion of which 
Great Britain is always keenly alive, was the mainspring 
of her action, and it is barely possible she may have 
indulged the hope, if not the expectation, that the experi- 
ment of free government in the new world, as exemplified 
in the confederation, was doomed to a speedy and 
disastrous issue, in which event, by the retention of her 
foothold on the western frontier, she would be in a 
position to regain her power and reassert her sovereignty, 



Whatever may be the truth of the matter, either 
of these considerations would have been sufficient to 
influence her judgment and determine her course ; but it 
is more than probable that the importance of her trade 
with the northwest, which in 1785, in furs alone, is said to 
have reached the magnitude of one hundred and eighty 
thousand pounds annually, coupled with the advantages 
of an enlarged market for British goods, to which con- 
sideration she is never indifferent, was the primary, if not 
the controlling motive for the retention of these frontier 
posts. 

The question of promoting British trade and British 
interest would seem to have been uppermost in the minds 
of the representatives of the English government, when 
every application for permission to build or navigate 
private vessels on the lakes was refused, and the recom- 
mendations made to the home government as late as 1785, 
" That a sufficient number of the queen's ships be kept 
upon the lakes to do the carrying trade and that all 
other crafts whatever be prohibited. " 

But whatever the motive, whether trade or territorial 
retention or acquisition, the fact remains that when 
shortly after the treaty of peace a demand was made for 
the surrender of this and other points in the northwest, 
the request was flatly refused and the occupancy con- 
tinued. This could be done with impunity, for there was 
not sufficient vitality remaining in the old government of 
the confederation to effectively assert the rights of the 
people, or enforce the mandates of the government. 
Fortunately for the inhabitants of the United States, 
doubly fortunate for the cause of human liberty and free 
government, the rotten fabric of confederation speedily 
gave way to the substitution and enduring structure of 

35 



1787, under and by virtue of which a national government 
was inaugurated, possessed of ample power, not only to 
maintain its own existence, but to enforce obedience to its 
rightful demands. Yet even then British occupancy con- 
tinued. It seems incredible that for more than seven years 
after the establishment of the national government, and 
the inauguration of Washington as President of the 
United States, the British flag continued to float above 
the posts of the western frontier. 

When we consider, however, the difficulties attending 
the inauguration of a new government, the exhausted 
resources of the people just emerging from a protracted 
war, perplexed by a burdensome debt, a doubtful credit, 
it is not surprising that the authorities were slow to take 
any step which might provoke a renewal of hostilities and 
involve the new government in the wastes and uncertain- 
ties of war. Time and diplomacy might be relied upon to 
accomplish the desired end. The continued occupancy, 
however, by the British, of these strongholds on the 
western frontier, was not only a flagrant usurpation of 
authority, but was characterized by a spirit of animosity, 
which made their retention peculiarly exasperating and 
offensive. 

Not content during the War of the Revolution, with 
invoking the aid of her savage allies, now, when the war 
was concluded and peace declared, Great Britain sought 
by every means at her command to create, foster and 
perpetuate a spirit of hostility among the Indians of the 
northwest towards the hardy frontiersmen pushing their 
settlements across the Ohio. To this end they encour- 
aged the Indians to insist upon the Ohio River as the 
southern boundary of their possessions, to decline to enter 
into any treaty with the United States touching these 

36 



lands, and were made to believe that the English govern- 
ment in retaining the posts, was actuated only by a desire 
to protect the Indians in the rightful possession of their 
territory. It was an English Indian superintendent, 
Johnson, who said to the Indians, "It is for your sakes, 
chiefly, if not entirely, that we hold these forts. " 

Lord Dorchester, speaking through Capt. Matthews, 
whom he sent to command at Detroit in 1786, after express- 
ing regret that the Indians had consented to permit the 
Americans to construct a road to Niagara, said to them : 
" In the future, His Lordship wishes you to act as is best 
for your interests. He cannot begin a war with the 
Americans because some of their people encroach and 
make depredations upon parts of the Indian country ; but 
they must see it is His Lordship's intention to defend the 
posts, and that while they are preserved, the Indians must 
feel great security therefrom, and consequently the Amer- 
icans greater difficulty in taking possession of their land. 
But should they once become masters of the posts, they 
will surround the Indians, and accomplish their purpose 
with little trouble. You seem apprehensive that the 
English are not very anxious about the defense of the 
posts. You will soon be satisfied that they have nothing 
more at heart, provided that it continues to be the wish 
of the Indians, and that they remain firm in doing their 
part of the business, by preventing the Americans from 
coming into their country, and consequently, from march- 
ing to the posts. On the other hand, if the Indians think 
it more for their interest that the Americans should have 
possession of the posts, and be established in their country, 
they ought to declare it, that the English need no longer 
be put to the vast and unnecessary expense and incon- 
veniences of keeping the posts, the chief object of which 



37 



is to protect their Indian allies, and the loyalists who have 
suffered with them." 

This artful pronunciamento was well calculated, as it 
was evidently designed, to encourage the Indians to persist 
in their claim of territorial jurisdiction, and incite them to 
fresh acts of hostility against the venturesome pioneer. 
With such assurances of friendship and support, backed 
by the presence of the British garrisons, and the sight of 
the British flag, it is not to be wondered at that the Indians 
were encouraged to persist in their hostility towards the 
United States, and that all efforts to secure possession of 
this territory by peaceful instrumentality proved wholly 
abortive. 

The defeat of the forces of Gen. Harmer, sent against 
the Indians in 1790, followed a year later by the defeat of 
St. Clair, served to increase their hostility, and demon- 
strated how thoroughly British influence aroused and 
solidified the Indians in defense of what they had been 
taught and encouraged to believe were their inalienable 
rights. Brant, the chief of the Six Nations, whose influ- 
ence was solicited by President Washington, after the 
defeat of Harmer and St. Clair, to bring about a peace 
with the western tribe, to which end a commission was 
appointed on the part of the United States in 1793, in 
explanation of the failure of such commission, did not 
hesitate to declare it was British influence which prevented 
its consummation. "To our surprise," he said, "when 
upon the point of entering upon a treaty, with the com- 
missioners, we found it was opposed by those acting under 
the British government, and hope of assistance was given 
to our western brethren to encourage them to insist upon 
the Ohio as the boundary between them and the United 
States." 

38 



The response of the Indians to the overtures of this 
commission disclosed the "power behind the throne," 
when they declared : " We desire you to consider that our 
only demand is the peaceable possession of a small part of 
our once great country. We shall be persuaded that you 
mean to do us justice if you agree that the Ohio River 
shall remain the boundary between us." 

I have said this much in explanation of the motive for 
the retention of the posts on the frontier. Thus ended 
this renewed effort on the part of the government to con- 
ciliate the Indians, and establish, by treaty stipulation, the 
peace and security of the border. 

The Indians elated with the victories over Harmer 
and St. Clair, were emboldened in their manifestations 
of hostility, while the governor of Canada proceeded to 
erect a new fort on the banks of the Maumee, which was 
interpreted by the Indians as a fresh assurance of sym- 
pathy and support. This attempt on the part of the 
British to entrench themselves more securely on the 
border, was declared by Washington to be the most 
daring act yet committed by the British agents in America, 
though not the most hostile or cruel, for he declared : 
11 There does not remain a doubt in the mind of any well- 
informed person in this country, not shut against con- 
viction, that the murders of our helpless women and 
innocent children, along our frontiers, result from the 
conduct of the agents of Great Britain in this country." 

With increased hostility on the part of the Indians, 
and a fresh assumption of power on the part of Great 
Britain, it was manifest affairs were rapidly approaching 
a crisis, when it would become necessary for the govern- 
ment to assert its rightful dominion and admonish the 
Indians and their British allies, that the savagery of the 

39 



one and the domination of the other could not longer 
be tolerated. To this end Gen. Wayne, in command of 
the United States forces, entered the territory on the 20th 
of August, 1794, fought a bloody but decisive battle with 
the Indians within hearing of the newly erected British 
fort on the Maumee. The officer in command of the fort, 
Maj. Campbell, having inquired of Gen. Wayne what 
interpretation was to be placed upon the near approach 
of his command to the garrison which he had the honor 
to command, must have received the impression from the 
general's reply that it was none of the major's particular 
business, as he said : " The most full and satisfactory 
answer was given the day before from the muzzle of 
my guns in an action with a horde of savages in the 
vicinity of the fort, and which terminated gloriously to 
the American arms. " And the general took occasion to 
add, for the information of the British commandant, 
which must have served as food for reflection, that, " Had 
the battle continued until the Indians were driven under 
the influence of your fort and guns, they would not much 
have impeded the progress of the victorious army under 
my command. " 

It was the beginning of the end. In spite of the 
efforts of British emissaries to induce the Indians to 
prolong the conflict, on the 3d of August, 1795, the 
Indians responded to the invitation of Gen. Wayne to 
meet him in council, at Greenville, where they entered 
into and concluded a treaty of peace. By the terms of 
this treaty extensive grants of land were ceded to the 
United States, among them a strip six miles wide on 
the eastern shore of Michigan from the Raisin River to 
Lake St. Clair, and all claims to the posts at Detroit and 
Mackinac wholly surrendered. In the meantime a treaty 

40 



had been concluded with Great Britain, by which it 
was stipulated among other things, that " on or before the 
i st day of June, 1796, the British garrison should be 
withdrawn from all posts and places within the limits 
of the United States. " 

The execution of the terms of this treaty was some- 
what delayed, but on the nth day of July, 1796, a 
hundred years ago this very day, the American flag 
was for the first time unfurled at Detroit, proclaiming 
the departure of an alien power and the ascended sov- 
ereignty of the United States. It is most fitting, there- 
fore, that the centennial anniversary of that day should be 
commemorated on the very spot made memorable by the 
happening of this great event and that it should be 
marked with enduring tablet that the memory of it 
may be preserved and transmitted to those who are to 
come after us. 

And let me say in this connection, that what occurred 
here a century ago to-day, was fraught with more than 
local interest. It meant the enforcement of that great 
ordinance of 1787 which, for wise statesmanship and 
patriotic purpose, is entitled to hold a place in American 
history second only to the Declaration of Independence. 
For it was by this ordinance that the territory northwest 
of the Ohio, embraced within the present limits of the 
states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, 
was set apart and forever dedicated to free government 
and enlightened citizenship. 

It guaranteed freedom of religious worship, a compre- 
hensive bill of rights, encouragement of schools, that the 
states to be formed from this territory not less than three 
nor more than five should remain permanently in the 
confederacy, and finally that there should be neither 

41 



slavery nor involuntary servitude within the limits of said 
territory, except in the punishment of crime, of which the 
party shall have been duly convicted. 

By this ordinance the great northwest was made the 
nursery of civil and religious liberty — the cradle of free 
states and free men. And what was of incalculable value, 
as subsequent events demonstrated, its terms were to 
remain forever unalterable, except by common consent. 
Every attempt to abrogate or suspend its provisions 
proved wholly abortive. This great ordinance, irrevocable 
in character, defended by resolute and uncompromising 
men, proved to be an insurmountable barrier to the exten- 
sion of slavery in the northwest, and a wall of defense to 
the champions of free states and free men. 

We do well, therefore, to commemorate an event 
which is not only of local interest, but which, in its far- 
reaching influence, has been felt through the intervening 
years, and made its lasting impress on the century. The 
flag which a hundred years ago was here unfurled, on the 
then borders of civilization, proclaiming the sovereignty of 
the nation over the northwest, has been borne across and 
subdued a continent, and floats to-day, with augmented 
power and glory, over seventy-five millions of people, 
possessing a domain imperial in extent, and a government 
securely reposing on the public will. 

May that banner, symbolizing unity and liberty, float 
onjorever, commanding the allegiance of the citizen and 
the respect of mankind. 



Senator Burrows' oration was enthusiastically ap- 
plauded. 



42 




JAMES B. ANGELL, LL. D., 
President of the University of Michigan. 



PRESIDENT ANGELL'S ADDRESS. 

Pres. James B. Angell, of the University of Michigan, 
was then called upon by the chairman, for a few words. 
He was received with hearty cheers, and spoke as follows : 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen- —He must be a 
bolder or a vainer man than I am, who can willingly rise 
to his feet here, to speak at this late hour, and to follow 
the two distinguished men, whose instructive and eloquent 
addresses we have listened to with such delight. But I 
remember that Gen. Alger is in command, and whenever 
he has faced a foe, it has proved useless to resist. And, 
indeed, it is not easy to keep silent, when one stands in 
this inspiring presence, and on this sacred spot, and sur- 
rounded by these precious relics of the past. 

Rhode Islander as I am by birth, I cannot, unmoved, 
take in my hand this telescope, which that brave Rhode 
Islander, Oliver Hazard Perry, captured from the ship of 
the British commander, in the decisive battle of Lake Erie, 
and he must have a colder heart than I, who can lay his 
hand on this old flag staff without feeling something of the 
touch of patriotic joy with which those sixty-five brave 
American soldiers saw the Stars and Stripes raised to its 
peak a hundred years ago this day, in token of the estab- 
lishment of our sovereignty over the whole northwest. 

It was a happy thought to celebrate this day. I have 
often wondered that Detroit has not given more oppor* 
tunities to commemorate the great men and the great 
events in its remarkable history. Long years ago, the 
sagacious men, who laboriously ascended this stream, saw 
that this place was " beautiful for situation, the joy of the 
whole earth," that here was sure to be a city, " the Queen 

43 



of the Straits," wearing at her girdle the key to the upper 
lakes, and to the great northwest. You make pilgrimages 
to Bunker Hill, to Valley Forge, and to Yorktown, as to 
sacred shrines. But to what spot in all this land are more 
romantic and thrilling historic associations attached than 
to this, when one recalls the adventures of the old explorers 
and missionaries, the gifted men who administered affairs 
under the French rule ; the shrewd English administrators 
and soldiers who succeeded them ; the Indian wars, which 
centered here ; the painful events of the Revolutionary 
days, and of the War of 1812. Our children and our chil- 
dren's children should all be made to feel, by celebrations 
like this, and by historic monuments and commemorative 
tablets, that here, at their own homes, is a spot as sacred 
in their country's history, as any in all our broad domain. 
The distinguished speakers who have preceded me 
have suggested, and truly, that one of the reasons why 
Great Britain retained this and other frontier posts for 
thirteen years after the Treaty of Independence, was 
their doubt whether we were really going to be able 
to retain our independence. Under the weakness of our 
old confederation this doubt on the part of the English 
was perhaps not unreasonable. But, may I call your 
attention to the more surprising fact that long after the 
establishment of our stronger government under the con- 
stitution, the English seemed to cherish the same doubt. 
In 1 814, at the opening of the negotiations for the Treaty 
of Ghent, the very first proposition made by the British 
commissioners to ours, and made as a sine qua non of 
the treaty, was that we should set apart for Indians the 
vast territory now comprising the states of Michigan, 
Wisconsin, Illinois, and a considerable part of the states 
of Indiana and Ohio, and that we should never purchase 

44 



it from them. A sort of Indian sovereignty under British 
guaranty was to be established in our domain. Coupled 
with this was a demand that we should have no armed 
force on the lakes. There were other demands scarcely 
less preposterous. Think of making such " cheeky" 
demands as these to John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay 
and James A. Bayard and Albert Gallatin and Jonathan 
Russell. It did not take these spirited men many minutes 
to send back answer in effect that until the United States 
had lost all sense of independence, they would not even 
listen to such propositions. They threatened to go home. 
Castlereagh, the Prime Minister, happening to reach 
Ghent on his way to Vienna, ordered an abatement of the 
British demands, and so an honorable peace was made. 
But the same idea of a " buffer state " of Indians under 
British influence, to be used in need as a means of regain- 
ing power here, was cherished at the outset as was enter- 
tained in 1790. 

And even if we come down to our Civil War, who has 
forgotten how Lord John Russell, in response to our 
demands for the suppression of cruisers like the Alabama, 
replied that Great Britain had no municipal law which 
forbade the construction of such vessels, and refused to 
consider our contention that international law called for 
the prohibition of them. He did not believe that we were 
to survive as a nation long enough or strong enough 
to enforce our demands. He afterwards manfully con- 
fessed his mistake. But his first answer to us afterwards 
cost England fifteen and a half million dollars. And did 
not Hon. Mr. Gladstone declare that Mr. Jefferson Davis 
had created a nation ? With all our respect for him, 
it is hard for us to forget that unhappy remark, which 
he had no business to make. 



45 



But, thank God, when the brave veterans at Appo- 
mattox struck the last fatal blow and ended the war 
of secession, you also won a victory of which perhaps you 
little thought at the time you slew the last lingering doubt 
in the English mind of the ability and will of this nation 
to maintain its integrity and its independence. From that 
day to this no Englishman has raised the question 
whether we are to remain a mighty and free nation. 

But I say all this without any spark of bitterness 
toward England. Thank God, when her troops quitted 
our soil they did not take away with them those muniments 
of liberty, which we brought from the home of our fathers, 
the habeas corpus, the right of trial by jury, the right of 
petition, the spirit of obedience to law, the inextinguishable 
love of civil and religious liberty. These English-speaking- 
races, now that England recognizes thoroughly our inde- 
pendence and our strength, bound together by the ties of 
a common language, common blood, similar laws and 
political institutions, fondly hope to settle all their mis- 
understandings without war, and by their example of 
good government, to commend free institutions to all 
nations. 

The whole world respects us now. There is no sea so 
remote, and no pathway of the traveler so excluded, that 
the flag of our Union is not there sufficient protection to 
the humblest American citizen. And it is to you, brave 
old veterans of the war, that we owe this proud position of 
our nation. 

When the applause which greeted the speaker had 
subsided, a benediction was pronounced by Rt. Rev. John 
S. Foley, D. D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Detroit, after 
which the great gathering dispersed. 

4 6 



THE LUNCH ON THE RIVER, 

Immediately after leaving the hall, the speakers and 
distinguished visitors were driven to the foot of Wood- 
ward avenue, where the steamer Pleasure was awaiting 
them. About 300, including the committees of the day 
and the members of the Fourth Infantry, M. N. G., who 
had acted as ushers at the hall, boarded the vessel and 
were carried several miles down the river. An excellent 
lunch was served, and Haug's mandolin orchestra enliv- 
ened the occasion with music. There w r as no set pro- 
gramme, but conversation and music made the time pass 
very pleasantly. The day was fine and nothing could 
have been wished to add to the perfect enjoyment of 
the occasion. 



THE MILITARY PARADE- 

Between the hours of four and six in the afternoon 
the celebration took the form of a grand military parade. 
Major Ford H. Rogers was chief marshal and Gen. Arthur 
Bresler chief of staff. The parade formed on Jefferson 
avenue at Dequindre street, and the route of march was 
down Jefferson to Woodward, up Woodward and Monroe 
avenues to Miami avenue, thence up to the Grand Circus 
and back by Woodward to Michigan avenue; thence by 
Wayne street to Lafayette avenue, to Third street, to Fort 
street and by that thoroughfare to the Campus Martius, 
where the various companies and organizations participat- 
ing were disbanded. Forty-five minutes were consumed 
in passing a given point. 

47 



On the Fort street side of the new Federal Building, 
to the east of the main entrance, a reviewing stand had 
been erected, where the members of the executive com- 
mittee, the invited guests and the members of the city 
government occupied seats. 

On the entire line of march the sidewalks were 
thronged by tens of thousands of spectators. The build- 
ings on the route were gaily decorated and every window 
was filled with heads. All along the route the enthusi- 
asm was as great as the crowds. 

The parade was led by a detachment of mounted 
police followed by the entire force under the command of 
Chief Starkweather. Then in order: 

The chief marshal and his aides. 

The 19th Infantry U. S. A., with its band, Col. Snyder 
leading in person. 

Gov. John T. Rich, in citizen's clothes, riding on a 
black horse, and attended by his staff, mounted and in 
full uniform. 

The 4th Infantry Michigan National Guard, with its 
band. 

A battalion of the Michigan Naval Reserve, in 
naval uniform. 

A small detachment of the Detroit Light Guard 
Veteran Corps. 

The second division, under command of Capt. John 
Conline, U. S. A., was made up of 
Parke, Davis & Co.'s Band. 
Detroit Post No. 384, G. A. R. 
Fairbanks Post, No. 17, G. A. R. 
Farquahar Post No. 152, G. A. R. 
Michigan Post No. 393, G. A. R. 

4 8 



A body of the Union Veterans' Union. 

A party of 21 little girls, in patriotic colors, carrying 
red, white and blue umbrellas. 

Ten colored veterans. 

The second division was completed by the " living- 
flag " — a body of 250 girls and boys dressed in white, blue 
or red clothes throughout, and so disposed that when 
looked down upon from any height the phalanx presented 
an exact representation of the American flag. 

The third division, under Assistant Marshal A. P. T. 
Beniteau, embraced: 

The Detroit Guardmen's Band. 

The Maybury Cadets. 

The Detroit Catholic Cadets. 

The Detroit Catholic Grays. 

The St. Elizabeth's Catholic Cadets. 

The St. John's Catholic Cadets. 

The St. Boniface Cadets. 

The Detroit Catholic Rifles. 

The St. Paul's Cadets, (St. Casimir's Parish). 

The Kosciusko Guards. 

St. Michael's Commandery. 

St. Ladislaus Commandery. 

St. Stanislaus Commandery. 

All the cadets were uniformed and armed, and 
attracted attention by their excellent drill. 

The fourth division, under Col. Fred. E. Farnsworth, 
was made up as follows: 
The Metropolitan Band. 
Knights of St. John and Patriarchs Militant. 
The Elks, in white uniforms and white umbrellas. 



49 



The fifth division was marshaled by Ralph Phelps, 
assisted by Col. R. G. Butler. It included : 
The two Newsboys' Bands. 

The Letter Carriers in uniform and admirably drilled. 
The Fire and Police Notification Company. 
The Newsboys' Association. 

It was six o'clock when the parade terminated and 
the exercises of the day were at an end. 



LETTERS OF REGRET, 

Letters of regret were received from Governors 
Busiel, of New Hampshire ; Woodbury, of Vermont ; 
Coffin, of Connecticut ; Morton, of New York ; Griggs, of 
New Jersey ; O'Ferrall, of Virginia ; Carr, of North Caro- 
lina ; Atkinson, of Georgia ; McCorkle, of West Virginia; 
Bradley, of Kentucky; Foster, of Louisiana ; Stone, of 
Missouri ; Altgeld, of Illinois ; Matthews, of Indiana; 
Bushnell, of Ohio; Cullen, of Texas; Thornton, of New 
Mexico ; Rickards, of Montana, and Lord, of Oregon. 

Also from President Cleveland, Postmaster-General 
Wilson, Secretary of State Olney, Secretary of the Navy 
Herbert, Attorney-General Harmon, and Justices Brewer, 
Peckham and Fuller of the Supreme Court, also the 
French and Russian Ambassadors, Senators Sherman, 
Vilas, Frye, Allison and McMillan, and Representatives 
Reed, Fischer and Henderson, and many others. 

LETTER FROM GOVERNOR O'FERRALL, 

Governor Charles T. O'Ferrall, of Virginia, who had 
expected to attend the festivities, with his entire staff, 

5° 



was unavoidably prevented. The following letter was 
received from him: 



COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, 
governor's office. 

Richmond, Va., July 8th, 1S96. 
My Dear Mr. Dickinson : 

I regret exceedingly I cannot attend Detroit's great celebration. 
An official engagement over which I have no control will prevent. 
Our statute requires the board of public works, of which the gover- 
nor is ex-officio president, to assess during the present week the 
railroads of the state for purposes of taxation, and the board is now 
engaged in the performance of this important duty. 

I beg to assure the good people of your historic city I would be 
more than happy to be with them, and that I appreciate beyond 
measure the high compliment they have paid this old commonwealth 
in their cordial invitation to me as her governor, to be present and 
address them upon the interesting occasion. 

Virginia reciprocates warmly their kind and generous considera- 
tion, and her people are more than gratified to find in their hearty 
action unmistakable evidence that all feelings of estrangement 
resulting from civil strife have been forever buried, and the two 
sections stand together in soul and spirit, under one flag and one 
constitution. Each section has memories which she will ever cherish 
with peculiar tenderness, yet they are in fact common memories, for 
they spring from the glories of the American soldier whether he fell 
under the stars and stripes or the stars and bars. I speak for the 
South when I say she is as loyal to the flag of our reunited country 
as she was to the southern cross, and that her sons will be ready 
at all times to stand shoulder to shoulder with their northern 
brethren in the maintenance of their country's honor and the 
defense of their country's rights. 

This old dominion State, immortalized in song and story, 
crowned with glories and hung with memories, and who gave to the 
cause of republican liberty her Henry, Jefferson, Washington and 



5 1 



Madison, joins with your great State in commemorating "the 
closing act of the war of American independence. " 

In conclusion, I beg to again assure you that I regret more than 
I can express, my inability to be absent from my post at this time. 
I am indeed almost selfish enough to wish that I could change the 
date of the evacuation as recorded by the chronicler, and make it a 
little later, so that I might participate in celebrating the memorable 
event and meeting with your sturdy northwest people. 
Yours very sincerely, 

CHAS. T. O'FERRALL. 

Hon. Don M. Dickinson, Detroit, Mich. 

FROM GOVERNOR MATTHEWS. 
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 

July 6th, 1896. 

Hon. Don M. Dickinson, Chairman Committee on Invitations, 
Detroit, Michigan: 

Dear Sir : — It is with sincere regret that I cannot accept the 
kind invitation of your Committee to join with the people of your 
State and city in celebrating the memorable event, which had so 
much to do in shaping the destiny of our Western and Northwestern 
territory. Indiana will rejoice with her sister Michigan and extends 
her hand in cordial greeting. 

The eleventh of July 1796, the lowering of the British flag to 
that of the young Republic, marked an important event, not alone 
in your State history, but in that of all states formed from that 
magnificent empire passing into the indisputable control of Amer- 
ican freemen. It was indeed a vast empire opened up to a triumph- 
ant Christian civilization, and a race of strong, brave and resolute 
freemen. Your celebration will strike a responsive chord in every 
patriotic heart in Indiana, and we know the day will be fittingly and 
splendidly honored by your own brave and enterprising people. 

Regretting my inability to be with you on behalf of the State ot 
Indi ?na, I am, with high esteem,' 

Very truly yours, 

CLAUDE MATTHEWS. 



52 



FROM SENATOR ALLISON. 

- Dubuque, Iowa, July 7th, 1896. 

To the Honorable the Committee on Invitation of the One Hun- 
dredth Anniversary, Detroit, Mich. : 

Gentlemen : — I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your 
invitation to be present at the ceremonies commemorative of the 
evacuation of Detroit one hundred years ago. With thanks for your 
invitation, I regret that my engagements are such that I cannot have 
the pleasure to accept. 

The event you commemorate, constitutes an epoch in the history 
of our country. It was the culminating act in completing our 
Independence. Though the Northwest Territory had been organ- 
ized for some time, its settlement had been retarded by its con- 
tinuous occupation by the British, which appeared to be indefinite 
until the Jay treaty fixed a time for the final departure of the British 
troops. This treaty, much abused when made, was of incalculable 
service not only to this region but to the whole country as well. It 
secured the rapid growth of the northwest and the creation of five 
populous states northwest of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, 
and made necessary the acquisition of the territory west of that 
river, happily achieved, through the Lousiana purchase only a few 
years later? Those who negotiated that treaty, and the one acquir- 
ing Lousiana, did not realize that within a century of time "The 
Northwest Territory," so called, and the contiguous territory lying 
west of the Mississippi, would embrace twelve great states, having 
an intelligent and cultivated population of twenty-three millions of 
people enjoying the blessings of free government, with an accumu- 
lated wealth of twenty-five thousand millions of dollars, or more 
than one thousand dollars for each inhabitant, and nearly two-fifths 
of the population and wealth of the whole country. Yet through the 
exertions of those who have come and gone within the century, and 
of those who still remain, these are the conditions existing at the 
end of the first century of the day you commemorate. May we 
venture the hope that those who commemorate the second century 
may be as prosperous and contented in the enjoyment of conditions 
equally favorable. 

Again expressing my regrets, I am 

Very truly yours, 

W. B. ALLISON. 

53 



FROM SENATOR McMILLAN. 

Manchester, Mass., July 5, 1896. 

My Dear Sir: — I regret that absence from the city will prevent 
me from joining my fellow citizens in the celebration of the one 
hundredth anniversary of the surrender of the post of Detroit to the 
United States, on July nth. 

With a foresight amounting almost to inspiration, our treaty 
commissioners insisted on drawing the boundary line so as to include 
Michigan within the territory of the United States, and when, for 
the purpose of retaining control over the fur trade, England refused 
to give up the Northwestern posts, the Jay treaty finally gave us 
possession of the territory George Rogers Clark had so bravely won 
by the sword ; and nine years later civil government according to 
American ideals was set up within our borders. 

It is fitting that these anniversaries should be observed, in order 
that the eventful history of nearly two centuries may teach us to 
prize the inheritance perfected for us by three great nations. 

I am, Very truly yours, 

james McMillan. 

Hon. Don M. Dickinson, Chairman Committee on Invitations, 
Detroit, Mich. 



54 



A WORD IN EXPLANATION, 

The foregoing pages form the official report of the 
committee on publication of Evacuation Day Exercises. 
The following pages include those articles of an historical 
nature that appeared in the Detroit papers at the time of 
the celebration. 

While I have had no hand in writing any of the arti- 
cles, I have thought them worthy of preservation, and 
have collected and reprinted them solely with that object 
in view. 

Many of the papers were prepared from data derived 
from books and unpublished manuscripts in my library; 
but the hasty manner in which the articles were originally 
written did not permit such thorough investigation as 
should precede such work and many errors are apparent. 
These I have not felt at liberty to correct and they are 
here reproduced as they first appeared. 

The copies of Canadian Archives, the Askin Papers, 

the Cadillac Correspondence, the Montreal Manuscripts, 

the Orderly Books of General Wayne, consulted by the 

writers and referred to in these pages, are in manuscript 

in my library. 

C. M. Burton. 



55 



ANTHONY WAYNE, 

( From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

"Mad Anthony Wayne!" It is a name, indeed, to con- 
jure with, one that brings to mind the stirring deeds and 
stern hardships of those early pioneers who made possible 
not only our beautiful City of the Straits, but the great 
commonwealths whose fertile acres are the most fitting 
monuments to the men who made the "middle west." 

Among all those whose bravery or sagacity helped to win 
peace and bring prosperity to this section, no name is held 
in higher esteem than his, and no one man combined in a 
higher degree these attributes. There are men who actually 
mold events, and others who make the operation possible by 
their work as forerunners, and Wayne's connection with the 
western country was of the latter nature. For too long a 
period, Wayne has been looked upon simply as the most 
dashing officer of the Continental army, a man who knew not 
fear, and was as rash as he was brave. History sometimes 
lingers in giving a man his rightful due, but at length the 
time has come when we honor Gen. Wayne, not alone for his 
matchless daring, but for his wise counsel, unselfish patriot- 
ism and wise administration of whatever trust was given to 
him. 

Anthony Wayne was born at Waynesborough, Pa., on 
January I, 1745. His family was of English stock, but had 
been settled in America for three generations at the time of 
the Revolutionary outbreak. At school he was considered 
incorrigible, because of his fondness for military matters, 

56 



which led him to spend more time in building miniature for- 
tifications and drilling his schoolmates than in learning his 
lessons. He became a surveyor, and at the outbreak of the 
Revolution was a farmer at Waynesborough. At this time 
he was a man of considerable importance in the community. 
Early in 1775 he had raised a regiment, of which he was ap- 
pointed colonel, and from that time he belonged to his 
country. 



Through all the stormy time that attended the birth of 
our republic, no sword flashed brighter than Wayne's. He 
was made brigadier-general in the early part of 1777, and 
placed in command of the Pennsylvania troops. Under 
his stern discipline and gallant leadership they became 
renowned as the very pick of the Continental army. 

No more dashing exploit is recorded of any leader than 
the storming of Stony Point, on July 15, 1779, where, in 
a skillfully planned assault, Wayne was shot down, but 
insisted on being raised and carried into the fortress at 
the head of his troops. 

One of the characteristic, though unauthenticated stories 
of Wayne, is that when Washington asked him if he would 
storm Stony Point, he replied: "General, I'll storm li — 1 
if you will plan it." The truth is that Wayne was a skillful 
soldier and his opinion was always sought by Washington 
upon strategic moves. 

Through all the varied and shifting scenes of the 
Revolution, Wayne shone resplendent, and his service 
extended from Canada to Georgia. And when our inde- 
pendence had been finally acknowledged by England and 



57 



her troops left our eastern shore, Wayne sheathed his 
sword and retired to private life, hoping to enjoy the repose 
he had won and so well deserved. 



He had an honorable position in his native state, and 
served her in civil life with wisdom and zeal. Removing to 
Georgia, he was elected to congress, but only served about 
six months. 

His quiet was again broken, for the Indians on our west- 
ern border were becoming more and more troublesome, and 
in 1792 Washington called Wayne from his retirement and 
appointed him commander-in-chief of our army. Hence- 
forth his career is linked with the west, and his military and 
diplomatic skill was never more severely tested than in his 
conflict with the wily savages, who were supported and 
urged on by British agents. 



At the time of Wayne's accession to the command of the 
army, our interests in the northwest were in serious jeopardy. 
The lands beyond the Ohio had been settled by emigrants 
from all parts of the country, including very many old sol- 
diers. The Shawnee and Miami Indians, under able leader- 
ship, determined that the encroachment of the whites upon 
their territory should stop at the Ohio, and for years they 
waged a bitter and merciless warfare upon our exposed 
frontier. Efforts had been made in 1790, under Gen. Har- 
mar, and in 1791 under Gen. St. Clair, to crush the power of 
the Indian confederacy, which had its center in northwestern 
Ohio, near the lake, and within easy reach of Detroit, where 
the British had a strong outpost. Both these expeditions 

58 



had resulted in disaster, and not only was the army demoral- 
ized, but these defeats increased the terror among the settlers, 
and depredations became more frequent. Fifteen hundred 
men, women and children had paid the penalty of frontier 
life with their lives, between 1783 and 1790, and the nation 
seemed powerless to protect our settlements. 




"MAD ANTHONY" WAYNE. 

The army of Harmar had been a collection of ill-armed, 
undisciplined men, led by officers, who, though brave, did 
not understand border warfare, while St. Clair's defeat was 
due simply to his lack of caution. 

But with Wayne's accession new spirit and courage were 
infused. The army was reorganized upon a plan which per- 
mitted cohesion, and ease in handling, and Wayne's stern 
discipline and high reputation as a soldier soon brought 
order out of chaos. 



59 



Arriving in Pittsburg in June, 1792, he set about his ardu- 
ous task. Many of the trusted officers who had served 
under him in the Revolution had been sacrificed to the in- 
competence of Harmar and St. Clair, while the terrors of the 
late campaigns made recruiting very slow. Wayne labored 
patiently, and the effect of constant drill and efficient officer- 
ing soon began to show itself in the increased confidence of 
the men. He wintered his command at a point on the Ohio 
river, 2J miles below Pittsburg, and early in 1793 located a 
camp at Fort Washington, upon the site of Cincinnati. Al- 
though the sentiment of the country in general was averse to 
an Indian war, he did not relax his vigilance, and his little 
army became every day more efficient and better disciplined. 

Wayne's letters at this time indicate great familiarity with 
the situation and a perfect understanding of the people he 
was to defend, and of the foes he was to subdue. When at 
last all negotiations failed, he advanced to a position 80 
miles north of Cincinnati, which he called Greenville, and 
there passed the winter of 1793-94. 

International complications were threatened with Eng- 
land, and Wayne was authorized to reduce the English post 
at the rapids of the Miami if he deemed it necessary. 



Full discretionary power to< lead in this most delicate posi- 
tion, was given by the government to the man whom we are 
accustomed to hear of only as "Mad Anthony" Wayne, and 
he handled the matter with the firmness of the soldier and the 
skill of the diplomat. 

During the winter he had established a fort on St. Clair's 
battlefield, which he named Fort Recovery. This fort was 

60 



attacked about the first of July, 1794, but the Indians were 
repulsed. Wayne now felt that it was time to act, and 
moved forward to the junction of the Glaize and Miami 
rivers, where he built Fort Defiance. Making another over- 
ture for peace, which was spurned, he met the Indians on 
August 20, 1794, at the rapids of the Miami, and inflicted 
upon them a defeat which brought peace forever to this 
section of the country, so far as the Indians themselves were 
concerned. The power of the Indian confederacy was 
broken, and Wayne's victory opened the way for the vast 
flood of immigration, which has transformed the wilderness 
of a hundred years ago into one of the garden spots of the 
world. 



Insignificant so far as the number of men engaged, a mere 
skirmish compared to the battles of our late war, it was yet 
one of the decisive battles of our history. In addition to 
settling for all time our claim to the territory in dispute, it 
had a most important effect upon the negotiations then in 
progress at London, which ended in Jay's treaty. Up to 
this time, the English ministry had persisted in holding the 
English posts within our borders, but upon news of the 
battle reaching London, an agreement was soon reached, 
which resulted in the evacuation of these posts, one of the 
chief of which was Detroit. 



After a visit to Pennsylvania, which was cut short by 
threatened war with England, Wayne returned to the border, 
empowered to act as the agent of the government in conduct- 
ing negotiations for the delivery of the posts which had been 



ceded to us. His appointment to this mission was in effect 
a notice that there would be no trifling or delay while he had 
charge of the matter. And there was none. The posts 
were Niagara, Oswego, the Miami and Detroit, and in the 
beginning of June he was ordered to visit these posts and 
take possession of them in the name of the United States. 
Invested by his commission with civil as well as military 
powers, he executed his double mission with faithfulness and 
discretion. 

After visiting the different posts, he at last arrived at De- 
troit, in September, 1796. During his progress nothing had 
occurred to hinder the success of his mission, and he had 
been received in every case in a courteous and friendly man- 
ner. At Detroit he found many Indians, who could hardly 
express admiration enough, for he was one of the truly 
brave who are recognized and admired, even by savages. 

The transfer of Fort Lernoult, which then stood upon the 
site of the present city, took some time, and Wayne remained 
here until the middle of November. The material compos- 
ing the rank and file of our army was not of the best in those 
days, and Wayne's rule was stern, but he looked after his 
men's welfare, and his sternness and harsh discipline were 
needed to control his turbulent followers. 



Leaving Detroit about the middle of November, he sailed 
for Presqu' He, the site of the present city of Erie, Pa. When 
nearly there, he was seized with an attack of gout, which 
had tormented him for years. He was taken to the quarters 
of the commandant and lingered there in agony for several 
weeks, dying on December 15, 1796. By his own wish, he 

6z 



was buried on a high hill near the block house, and overlook- 
ing the shining expanse of Lake Erie. His remains were 
removed by his son in 1809, and taken to Pennsylvania. 
The site of the grave was lost for a time, but finally discov- 
ered, and in 1879 a monument was placed over it. 

No man more than Wayne — called "Mad Anthony'' by his 
soldiers in love for his fearless daring, but really a man of 
consummate skill and judgment — contributed to the founda- 
tion of the glory and prosperity of the great states that sur- 
round Lake Erie. By one stroke he broke the power that 
threatened all our border, and opened our fertile plains to 
the immigrants. And right well has his labor been repaid. 
For as long as men love brave deeds and brave leaders, so 
long shall be heard in our land the name of "Mad Anthony 
Wayne." 



OUR CENSUS IN 1782, 

(Detroit Journal July 11, 1896,) 
An earlier census of Detroit may have been taken, but the 
first of which we have any record is to be found in the Cana- 
dian archives for 1782. It is entitled: "A survey of the set- 
tlement of Detroit, made by the order of Maj. De Peyster, 
1 6th day of July, 1782.'' The major estimated that in addi- 
tion to those found by the enumerators in and around the 
fort, there were 100 in the king's service who were on de- 
tached duty out among the Indians "in the country." Add- 
ing these, the total population was 2,291, as follows: 

Heads of families 321 

Married women 254 



Widows and hired women 72 

Young and hired men 336 

Boys 526 

Male slaves 78 

Girls 503 

Female slaves 101 



Total 2,191 

De Peyster didn't go into the "survey" as extensively as 
modern superintendents of census, but he probably enumer- 
ated everything in sight. Moreover, it didn't take him a 
decade to compile the returns, but on the 20th he forwarded 
his completed survey to the governor-general at Quebec. 

The remainder of the report is as follows : 

Horses 1,112 

Oxen 413 

Cows 837 

Heifers and steers 452 

Sheep 447 

Hogs 1,370 

Flour, pounds .29,250 

Wheat, bushels 1,804 

Indian corn, bushels 355 

Wheat sown last fall, bushels 4,075 

Arpents under corn 521 

Arpents under oats 1,849 

Arpents under cultivation x 3,77o 

Supposed bushels potatoes in the ground 3,000 

Barrels cider supposed will be made 1,000 

64 



EARLY SHIP/MAKING. 

(Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

His majesty, George III., did one good thing for Detroit. 
If he was not the original ship-builder here, he put his money 
into the industry and fostered it. More than ioo years ago 
he had a fleet of sailing craft on the lakes to transport his 
soldiers, ordnance and stores between Newark, Bois Blanc, 
Detroit and Michilimackinac, and they bore away his armies 
when Jay's treaties went into effect. 

Shipcarpenters' wages were not exorbitant in those days, 
when Askin's blotter is taken into consideration. The first 
report on this industry is entitled: "Muster roll of officers, 
carpenters, blacksmiths, employed in his majesty's shipyard 
at Detroit, from 29th December, 1777, to 24th April, 1778, 
both days included." 

Richard Cornwall, master builder, received 10 shillings 
sterling per day, and John Shipley, storekeeper and clerk of 
the check, 100 pounds sterling per year. All the other em- 
ployes were paid in New York currency, and at the following 
rates: Foreman of the yard, 12 shillings per day; assistant 
foremen, 8 shillings per day, and some of them 10 and 8 
pounds per month; carpenters, 4 to 8 shillings, and one re- 
ceived 12 pounds per month; sawyers, 4 to 8 shillings per 
day: blacksmiths, the same, and the foreman 9 pounds per 
month; laborers, 4 pounds per month. 



65 






EVACUATION DAY, 

( From the Detroit Tribune, July 11, 1896.) 

It is not exact to say that the people of the United States 
were made independent by the war of the Revolution, or that 
their independence was completed with the evacuation of 
Detroit by the British forces, just a century ago today. 
Their independence was really a fact from the moment the 
cavaliers set sail for Virginia and the Pilgrim Fathers for 
New England. The war of the Revolution was, strictly 
speaking, only an effective assertion of what already was and 
had been for nearly two centuries. 

The independence of the people of the United States is a 
habit of mind. It is not a mere political dissent. It is not 
comprised in having thrown off British government. The 
throwing off of British government was but one among 
countless manifestations of our independence. Our ances- 
tors of those times did not so much make themselves free as 
the)' proclaimed to the world the freedom that they already 
had. It was a notification to all nations of the fact that the 
United States of America were able to go it alone. 

The evacuation of Detroit was important politically ; it was 
still more important as the symbol of great things. We are 
to celebrate today a very notable expression of national 
character. The spirit of independence which forced the 
British to leave our soil forever is still alive. It burns with 
undiminished brightness. We have never ceased to be inde- 
pendent. We have always proceeded without misgivings as 
to our separate destiny. Firm has ever been our faith in our 



66 



mission to lead, and with the grace of heaven firm it always 
will be. 

Forecaster Conger, of the weather bureau, last night pre- 
dicted fine weather for the Evacuation day celebration today. 
It is expected that the celebration will draw to the city a 
large number of visitors. All the railroads and steamboat 
lines entering the city will run cheap excursions from all 
points. The hotels and restaurants have made extra prepa- 
rations to care for the multitude. 

Everything is in readiness for the celebration, which will 
begin promptly at 10:30 o'clock, except for the crowds to ar- 
rive. The decorations on the inside of the new postornce are 
all completed. The chairs have all been put in position. The 
memorial tablet has been put in place on the west side of the 
Fort street entrance, and will be unveiled the first thing after 
the exercises begin. 

Yesterday noon the executive committee held a meeting 
and inspected the new government building. They ex- 
pressed entire satisfaction with the preparations at the build- 
ing, and extended a vote of thanks to Chairman Harry F. 
Chipman, who had the details in charge. 



67 



THE EVACUATION. 

( From the Detroit Tribune, July 11, 1896.) 

It was Monday, July II, 1796, and the scene was the Brit- 
ish military post of Detroit. The sun rose brightly over the 
little town, and Fort Lernoult, and the broad expanse of the 
beautiful river. At the first notes of the bugle that sounded 
forth the reveille the Union Jack — the meteor flag of Eng- 
land — was given to the breeze, the main gate or entrance 
to the fort was opened, and red-coated sentinels were seen 
on guard. The few privates left in the fort fell into ranks 
and answered to their names, and then dispersed to get 
their breakfasts and help pack up. 

There was to be no g'uard-mounting- that day. 

All around could be seen wagons loaded with household 
goods, and military supplies, for the "flitting" had com- 
menced several days before, and the work of building Fort 
Maiden, at Amherstburg, had been going on for several 
weeks. 

On the ramparts several officers conversed in groups, ap- 
parently on a subject of engrossing interest, and the massive 
form of Col. Richard England appeared on the scene. Tele- 
scopes were brought out and the river below was scanned 
with interest. 

Everybody in Detroit knew that, by the terms of the Jay 
treaty, the fort and its dependencies were surrendered by 
England to the United States, and that possession was to be 
given on July 1. But from several causes the United States 
troops had not come to claim their own. In the intervening 

68 



days some evil disposed soldiers or others had destroyed sev- 
eral of the windmills that lay on the river bank, and did some 
other mischievous acts, but these were not probably sanc- 
tioned by the commandant, who was a gentleman a*nd an old 
and experienced soldier. 

THE YANKEES CAME. 

It was about 10 o'clock when the telescope discovered two 
vessels coming around the bend of the river below the town. 
The flags were not at first distinguishable, but in a short time 
they became plainer to the lookers, and the word went 
round : 

"The Yankees are coming!" 

Xearer and nearer came the two vessels, which were small 
schooners, each flying the Stars and Stripes. At this time 
a number of officers and men went down to the King's 
wharf, which then projected about 150 feet into the river 
at the foot of Shelby street. At the wharf were several 
loaded vessels, all ready to clear. The American vessels 
tacked in and were fastened to the wharf, around which 
were gathered a motley group of Indians, soldiers and 
white settlers. 

There is no record of how the small American advance 
force was received. It was strictly on a peace footing, for 
it numbered only 65 men. The two vessels also contained 
several cannon, ammunition and provisions, the whole being 
under the command of Capt. Moses Porter. Being officers 
and gentlemen, it is more than probable that Col. England 
and his subordinates received them at the wharf with cour- 
tesy and good feeling. That the latter feeling predomi- 

69 






nated is certainly true, for the records show that the British 
commissary at Chatham loaned 50 pounds of pork to the 
United States commissary for the use of the troops. 

Meanwhile the only one to show emotion was the rene- 
gade, Simon Girty, the miscreant who had laughed when 
Crawford, the American officer, was being burned at the 
stake by the Indians near Sandusky. He seemed anxious 
to leave what was now American territory, and too impa- 
tient to wait for the ferry boat, he spurred his horse into 
the river and swam it over to Canada. On the bank on 
the opposite side he stopped and furiously cursed the Ameri- 
can government and its soldiers. Like Marmion, when he 
had got outside of the Douglas castle, 

His shout of loud defiance pours 

And shook his gauntlet at the towers. 

And then came the ceremony of taking possession. The 
65 United States troops formed and marched up the hill 
to the fort. They were probably received by the few British 
troops that were left with military honors. The British 
flag came down at noon, and then the starry banner of the 
free was hoisted, and Detroit and the northwest became 
United States territory. 

A letter written by Col. England a few days later on 
Bois Blanc island, at the mouth of the Detroit River, shows 
that he was in Detroit at the time of the evacuation. 

There was certainly no reason why he should not be 
present at that time. The two nations were at peace, and 
the evacuation was the result of an amicable treaty, and 



70 



it would have been boorish and discourteous for him to 
be absent. 

On the 13th came Col. John Francis Hamtramck, who 
was in command of this post until the arrival of his supe- 
rior officer, "Mad Anthony'' Wayne, who came in Septem- 
ber. 



A GREAT EVENT, 

(From the Detroit Tribune, July 11, 1896.) 

In this centenary celebration of Evacuation day is com- 
memorated one of the most important events in early Ameri- 
can history. Yet the final abandonment by the British of 
the lake frontier and the great northwest — a domain far 
more extensive than the original 13 colonies which so gal- 
lantly vindicated their claim to freedom and independence — 
was attended by no sensational feature. In the occurrence 
itself there is little to inspire the writer to eloquent periods 
reciting the number of the slain, the stirring episodes of 
conflict, the brilliancy of diplomatic intervention, or the 
profundity of statesmanship, through which the course of 
national destiny is determined. It was a cut and dried 
affair, with rather prosaic details. 

It was like the quiet meeting of Grant and Lee at Appo- 
mattox, which was only a settling up of a military result, 
and lacked the coloring of pomp and pageantry, which 
was accompanied by nothing dramatic, save by associ- 
ation. Yet in the brief interview of these two great military 
representatives there was solved forever the problem of 

7i 



human liberty in the United States, and the perpetuity 
of a government by one people was assured. 

So the evacuation of Detroit a hundred years ago was 
far less imposing than its commemoration of today, but 
it was a climax of long years of struggle with arms and 
diplomacy, and its outcome was of deep historical signifi- 
cance. The evacuation was but a link in the chain. 

Still, it is surprising that there is so little of record con- 
cerning the leaving of Detroit by the British and its occu- 
pancy by the American government. Some of the enter- 
prising merchants doing business here at the time were 
wont to make entries of interesting local events in their 
account books, but in none of these that have been per- 
used by Detroit's antiquarians can be found any direct 
reference to the evacuation. 

As further showing the paucity of information regarding 
the actual deliverance of the fort there is cited the fact 
that the only original map of Detroit in 1796 is now in 
the archives of the minister of marine in Paris. This 
work was done by Gen. Collot, who acted as a spy in this 
region at the behest of his government, and it shows the 
fortifications and surroundings of the British fort in this 
city. The map itself, of which there is a fac-simile in the 
office of C. M. Burton, and a reproduction in Farmer's 
History of Detroit, is a convincing proof that the French 
still entertained hopes of reoccupying this region when a 
favorable period presented itself. 



72 



ENGLAND AN IRISHMAN. . 

(From the Detroit Tribune, July 11, 1896.) 

Several years ago the private letters of Col. Richard 
England, the last English commandant of the post, were 
given to the world. It was naturally supposed that his 
letters, written after the time he was here, would contain 
information concerning the incidents attending the evacu- 
ation. He was a good soldier and a cultured gentleman, 
as his writings amply attest. But the papers contain noth- 
ing but the kindliest references to those he left behind, 
and a few details of business he was anxious to close. This 
might have been a matter of delicacy on the part of the 
colonel, because his friends here were under a new regime, 
or it might have been because he was absorbed in new 
duties which demanded his attention. A prima facie proof 
that he was a brave fighter is the fact that he was born 
in County Clare, Ireland, and took to the profession of 
arms from choice. When he returned to England the Prince 
of Wales, afterward George IV., noticed his immense size 
and distinguished bearing — he was six and a half feet in 
height — and asked a friend who he was. 

"It is Col. England," was the reply. 

"England!" said the prince. "He ought to be called 
Great Britain." 

In after years the colonel settled in Upper Canada and 
was interested in a colonizing company which placed settlers 
on lands in the extreme western part of that province. It 
is worthy of note that in 1793, while in command here, a 

73 



son was born who bore his father's name. He also followed 
his father's footsteps, entered the British army, and for 
distinguished services was promoted step by step until 
he became lieutenant-general, and in time was knighted. 
Sir Richard England died in 1883, aged 90 years. 



FORT LERNOULT, 

(From the Detroit Tribune, July 11, 1896.) 

Even as to Fort Lernoult, which was built by the English 
in 1778 and evacuated in 1796, there is a conflict of testi- 
mony. For instance, Col. Daniel Brodhead, then in com- 
mand at Pittsburg, wrote Gen. Washington under date of 
November 22, 1779: 

'The Delaware chiefs inform me that the new fort at 
Detroit is finished, and that the walls are so high that 
the tops of the barracks can scarcely be seen from the 
outside, but they don't know whether there are any bomb- 
proofs, as they are not permitted to go into the fort. They 
think the number of soldiers there does not exceed 300, 
and some part of that number remains in the old fort." 

After studying the authorities at his command, Historian 
Silas Farmer describes the fort as made by piling up butts 
of trees with sharpened ends projecting outwards to a height 
of four feet. On top of this foundation and extending 
outward at an angle of 45 degrees, were heavy, sharpened 
stakes, and surrounding all was an earth embankment 11 
feet high. The top of the parapet was 12 feet broad and 
the width of the ramparts at their base was 26 feet. Sur- 



74 



rounding the embankment was a ditch 6 feet deep and 12 
feet wide at the top, having in it a row of pickets 11 or 12 
feet high. It was 40 feet from the fort to the banks of 
the Savoyard River, which was reached by a 'precipitous 
descent. This description would seem to negative the 
account of the Indians, as told by Brodhead. 

Others who have written about the matter, or who speak 
from tradition, are inclined to the belief that the fort was 
not a very formidable affair even for those times. The 
circumstances under which it was erected, however, favor 
the idea that it was calculated to withstand a vigorous 
siege by a much larger force than that defending it. News 
had reached Detroit that the American general, Brodhead, 
was advancing from the southeast with a superior force 
in 1778, having already reached a position on what is now 
northern Ohio, which he was fortifying, his ultimate pur- 
pose being to make his way to Detroit and capture this 
important point on the frontier. The old stockade and 
block houses were considered by the British to be inade- 
quate in the event of such an emergency. It was Maj. 
Lernoult that approved the plans for better defenses, Capt. 
Bird superintended their construction, and it was named 
after the major. The facts that Brodhead did not make 
the expected advance, and that Gen. Clark, commanding 
the American forces, did not make good his threat to 
occupy the fort as soon as it was completed by the British, 
does not lessen the probability that it was capable of mak- 
ing a stubborn defense. There were some di faculties in 
engineering that were not overcome entirely, such as the 
constant filling in of the ditches and the caving of the 



75 



ramparts and glacis, which were caused by the water o( 
the springs in the enclosures, but the work of strength- 
ening- and enlarging was generally continued by the garri- 
son until the treaty of peace was signed between the two 
countries. 



WHAT A CHANGE. 

( From the Detroit Tribune, July 11, 1896,) 

Some idea of the great improvements which have taken 
place within ioo years can be gathered from the fact that 
the fort occupied what is now the site of the government 
building, its centre being about the present intersection of 
Fort and Shelby streets. Its northern bastion extended 
nearly to Lafayette avenue; the western bastion extending 
nearly to Wayne street, the southern extending to the alley 
behind St. Paul's church, on the corner of Congress and 
Shelby streets, and the eastern extending to the Peninsular 
bank building on Fort street. 

The town of Detroit, two-thirds of which was in the 
stockade, lay east and south of the fort. The citadel was 
near what is now the northwest corner of Jefferson avenue 
and Wayne street. The powder magazine was a little east 
of the intersection of Congress and Wayne streets, and 
was half w r ay between the citadel and the fort. The three 
points were connected by a subterranean passage. The 
stockade, composed mostly of cedar posts, 14 feet in height, 
with its strong gates and block houses, were regarded by 
the British as a sufficient reliance against an attack by 
Indians, but the threatened attack of the Americans called 

76 



for the election of a fort. The entrance of the fort was on 
the southern side, through an archway of trees, and a draw- 
bridge over the ditch. 



THE KEY OF THE NORTHWEST, 

(From the Detroit Tribune, July 11. 1896.) 

The importance of Detroit itself at that time lay in the 
fact that it was a military point which was the key to the 
great northwest. It was also the depot of the fur trade 
-and Indian supplies on the entire frontier. Although 
founded by Cadillac in 1701, it had not grown much in 
the 95 years following, and was a village cf only about 
300 houses and 2,600 inhabitants, which included about 
200 male and female slaves. Its streets, laid out in the 
French style, were narrow, the broadest, which occupied 
the present line of Jefferson avenue, between Griswold and 
Wayne streets, being only 30 feet wide. The houses and 
stores were entirely built of logs and were very small, space 
being economized to the utmost within the stockade. The 
chief source of income to the merchants was in supplying 
the troops and Indians, and dealing in the furs abundantly 
supplied by the Indians, trappers and organized companies. 
Surrounding the little town was a dense, primeval forest, 
pierced by no roads leading into the interior, save by Indian 
trails. The Detroit River and the lakes were the thorough- 
fares of travel, so far as there were any, and all the points 
of beauty now surrounding the city were obscured by a 
monotonous, trackless wilderness, relieved only by the noble 

77 






river which was then, and is now, the crowning grandeur 
of the City of the Straits. The most frequent visitors were 
Indians, who came here for various purposes. Under 
British rule some were soldiers, others came here to dispose 
of their peltries, and others to loaf and get drunk on rum, 
which was then the cheapest spirituous liquor in those 
parts. The British supplied rum to* the Indian troops as 
part of the commissary supplies, but under American rule 
there were efforts made to withhold intoxicants from the 
red men. Generally, however, they found a way to gratify 
their cravings for strong drink. Open scenes of drunk- 
enness in the town of Detroit under British rule were 
always witnessed after the Indians returned from successful 
forays against American settlers. On such occasions the 
red men, flushed with victory and rum, would dash through 
the narrow streets, waving poles, on which bloody scalps 
were fastened, and yelling like fiends, while the inhabitants 
would prudently fasten their doors. The savages, however, 
seldom attacked the inhabitants, and moist of their difficul- 
ties were between themselves. The presence of the soldiers 
was a bar against any attacks on the settlers or merchants. 
Sixteen years after the evacuation, when the British cap- 
tured Detroit, the Indians had the American residents at 
their mercy, and committed many depredations. 

A more extended description of Detroit, in 1796, is given 
by a traveler named Isaac Weld, and appears on another 
page. 



73 



OUR OLD RESIDENTS, 

(From the Detroit Tribune, July 11, 1896.) 
Of the character of her people Detroit has always had 
just cause to be proud. In the early days, besides the 
French pioneers who sought homes and lands in the new 
territory, there were men of means and education who 
came to this point because it offered profitable business 
inducements in the fur and Indian trade. Some of these 
men, like James May and the Macombs and Abbotts, 
conducted business on a large scale, and have an enviable 
place in history because of services rendered this country 
when Great Britain sought to> retain this portion of its 
territory. Some of the ancestors of the oldest and best 
families in Detroit laid the foundations of their wealth in 
this city, which has been increased to large fortunes in 
later years by good management and business ability, but 
principally by the enhancement of land values which always 
follows the increase of population. 

Notwithstanding their isolation from civilized centers, and 
the martial and aboriginal environment of the place, these 
men provided religious and educational facilities for their 
families, and enjoyed social pleasures under what would 
seem to be most forbidding circumstances. There were 
boat races, athletic sports, dancing, parties, picnics, equine 
contests and social functions which are customary at the 
present day. All the old correspondence which has been 
preserved shows that the leading men of Detroit in those 
bygone days were of a superior class, and their old-fashioned, 
punctilious courtesy was exceedingly charming and refined, 

79l 



but too elaborate for the rush and push of modern days. 
These combined attractions, with the potent addition of 
their cultivated and beautiful wives and daughters, made 
Detroit a favorite frontier post for the military who, of 
course, were favored guests at the best houses. The limited 
communication with the outer world only served to bring 
the members of the little community into closer intimacy. 

WHY ENGLAND DELAYED. 

The above is a brief and perhaps imperfect description 
of the social, military and commercial situation of Detroit 
in 1796. Why this section was not evacuated by the British 
13 years before, in compliance with the treaty of 1783, has 
ever since been a subject of controversy, and has not yet 
been determined. It was among the stipulations of that 
treaty that Great Britain should be allowed a reasonable 
time within which to withdraw her forces from this country, 
but even the most radical defenders of the British policy 
do not attempt to claim that her action was justified under 
this provision. It would be the acme of absurdity to hold, 
after taking years to defeat an invading enemy, that he 
should be allowed twice as many years to withdraw from 
this country. The contention made by the British and 
their defenders ever since has been that the United States 
had failed to comply with the requirements of the treaty. 
A special count in this charge was that British merchants 
were creditors of merchants in this country; that the new 
government had agreed in the treaty to guarantee the 
payment of these debts; that several states had refused to 
comply with this agreement because they had no constitu- 

8<f 




p ^ 



2 D 



O 2 
HO 



tional right to do so; and because of all this the British 
government rightly refused to surrender the sovereignty of 
the northwest territory until the British merchants were 
paid or secured. This engendered a bitterness which not 
only led to a sharp diplomatic correspondence, but in 1794 
made a second war imminent. 

ENGLAND'S ULTERIOR MOTIVES. 

The generally accepted theory among American authori- 
ties is that the excuses made by the British for not carry- 
ing out their treaty agreements were merely pretexts to 
cover their determined purpose to retain possession of the 
northwest. The reasons for this purpose were apparent. 
It gave the control of the lucrative fur trade, which was a 
virtual monopoly in the hands of the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany and the merchants of Montreal. The representatives 
of these interests in London were in close touch with the 
British government, which is always solicitous for the 
advancement of trade — a nation's chief strength. The reten- 
tion of the northwest would also give a vantage ground 
from which to renew the war against the colonies. The 
English never give up a project until after they are defeated, 
and sometimes not then, and there was a strong sentiment 
at home that this territory should be reclaimed by the 
mother country. Above all things it would enable the 
British to retain the support of the Indians, who could 
be depended on to fight England's battles in the event of 
war. That this object was not only entertained, but that 
it succeeded, is evidenced by the fact that the Indians of 
the west, in the American territory, were the allies of the 
British in the war of 1812. 

81 



In this struggle England's savage contingent committed 
some of the most devilish atrocities in the annals of so-called 
civilized warfare. 

AN ATROCIOUS POLICY. 

There is also damning evidence that the English incited 
the Indians against the American white settlers, and were 
responsible for the most horrible crimes against men, 
women and children. It is shown by official records that 
as far back as 1791 the redskins were being urged to 
violence by the infamous Simon Girty and other agents, 
and that under Girty's orders they assisted in bringing 
guns to Detroit for the purpose of strengthening the Brit- 
ish position. In 1793, prompted by the same power behind 
the throne, the general council of Indians declared that 
they would not believe that the United States intended to 
do them justice unless it was agreed that Ohio should be 
the boundary line between the Indian territory of the 
northwest. This was in accordance with the British policy 
of having a "buffer state" next to their own dominions 1 in 
America, which ooruld be controlled in the British interests. 
The American government would not acquiesce in this 
proposition to alienate the northwest, because it knew that 
it was inspired by Great Britain. 

In 1794 Lieut.-Col. England was in correspondence with 
Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe, of Canada, in regard to the Indian 
troubles. Simcoe had sent several letters to the Indian 
head men, and his statements in these letters were repeated 
at Montreal and were communicated to the United States 
government. The letters clearly indicated that, whether 

82 



with or without authority from the home government, Brit- 
ish officials were secretly urging the Indians to continue 
their warfare against the Americans, and promising that 
aid and comfort would be furnished the former. This led 
to a diplomatic correspondence between the two countries. 
Simcoe denied that he had been intriguing in this matter, 
and asked to be investigated. An investigation was held 
in Montreal, but it was conducted in such a manner that 
it simply covered up any offenses of which he might have 
been guilty. 

wayne's Indian campaign. 

About this time Indian Agent McKee, of the British 
forces, notified Lieut-Col. England that the Delawares 
had taken the scalps of six American infantry at a point 
between Forts Washington and Hamilton, and that these 
scalps were to be forwarded to the lake Indians for the 
purpose of inciting them against the United States troops. 
Nothing was done to prevent or discourage this scheme, 
and it had the sanction and guilty knowledge of the British 
officials. This was of special significance, because Gtn. 
Anthony Wayne was then about advancing to Jie north- 
west, and the Indians were being rallied to oppose him. 

Gen. Wayne fortified the Glaize and planned to proceed 
thence toward Detroit, despite any opposition which might 
be encountered as the result of Indian plans or those of 
the English. He offered $1,000 reward for the scalp of 
Simon Girty, the cruel but capable renegade. These facts 
gave the frontier posts an excuse for strengthening their 
position on the pretext that they feared an intent on the 

83 



part of Wayne to invade Canada. They had further apology 
for this course because one Christopher Miller, whose char- 
acter was not above suspicion, made oath before British 
officials that he, at the request of Wayne, had told the 
Indians that it was not against them, but against the Eng- 
lish, that he and his forces were moving, and that he 
intended to drive the British from the country. 



EASILY CONVINCED. 

Upon this scant and unreliable evidence the English 
officers were content to act. Simcoe pushed the construc- 
tion of gunboats on the Thames as rapidly as possible, and 
urged the prompt enlistment of additional seamen as well 
as land forces. 

Xear Fort Miamis, on the Maumee, in the vicinity of 
where Toledo now stands, Wayne whipped the Indians, 
who had concentrated to meet him, in August, 1794. The 
English commandant at the fort made complaint both to 
his superior officer and to Wayne, because the latter had 
fought within range of the guns of Fort Miamis. What 
the English chose to term the pretentious reply of " Mad 
Anthony " was thoroughly characteristic of the man. He 
practically informed the complainants that he knew his 
business and would attend to it. This precipitated a hot 
correspondence between Wayne and Campbell, the latter 
being in command at the fort. He served notice on the 
American general that he must not again get within gun- 
shot of the fort or he would be fired upon, 



H 



STRAINED RELATIONS. 

These facts and incidents go to show the strained rela- 
tions existing and how easily another war with Britain 
might have been brought about. In the meantime our 
government was doing everything possible to< bring about 
by peaceful means, a compliance with the treaty of 1783. 
Not only were diplomatic means employed through repre- 
sentatives in England, but direct communication was had 
with Gen. Haldimand, Gen. Campbell and other command- 
ants, requesting that they evacuate, or in the event of 
failure to comply at once that they specify the time within 
which they would yield undisputed possession to the terri- 
tory held under their adverse control. These officials tem- 
porized until they could receive authoritative orders, and 
they were invariably to the effect that the posts be held. 
Everything went to show that Great Britain meant if possible 
to retain her grip. 

PEACE AT LAST. 

It was while affairs between the two powers were in 
this critical condition that John Jay, the distinguished 
American jurist and statesman, was sent to negotiate the 
second treaty of peace made necessary by the policy of 
non-compliance persisted in by the English. This minister 
plenipotentiary was especially well equipped for the delicate 
task. He had been president of congress, was the first 
chief justice of the supreme court of the United States. 
and served as governor of New York. As the result of 
his official negotiations with Great Britain, she receded 
from all her adverse claims in this country and agreed to 
evacuate all the posts then retained by June 1, 1796. There 

85 



was a disposition in some quarters to criticise the Jay treaty, 
but it is the testimony of Lord St. Helens that Jay was 
not only chiefly but wholly the means by which it was 
brought to a successful conclusion. It was under the pro- 
visions of this treaty that Col. Hamtramck first took charge 
of Fort Miamis and a few days afterwards assumed com- 
mand at Detroit. 

JOHN FRANCIS HAMTRAMCK. 

No name of that time is better known in Detroit than 
that of Hamtramck, and a brief review of his record shows 
that he was born in Canada in 1757, and died in this city 
in 1803. He commenced his distinguished service in the 
Revolutionary war as captain of Dubois' New York regi- 
ment, and before he died was commissioned a colonel. 
He especially distinguished himself as commander of 
Wayne's left wing in the battle with the Indians near 
Fort Miamis, as above described. He was not only a great 
soldier, but a man of marked ability in other directions. 
His officers held him in the highest esteem and erected a 
monument to his memory on the grounds of St. Anne's 
church. When the burial ground was discontinued his 
remains were removed, and now lie in the Elliott lot in Mt. 
Elliott cemetery. 

Two years after taking command here Col. Hamtramck 
had a son, who also distinguished himself. When but 16 
years old he was with Zachary Taylors expedition up the 
Mississippi. They had a severe engagement with the 
Indians and British off the mouth of Rock River, 111. The 
lad showed his fighting blood in a way to excite general 
admiration, and the reward was a gratification of his desire 

86 



to enter West Point. He served with distinction throughout 
the Mexican war and afterwards became a planter in Vir- 
ginia. 

So far as the lives of those who< comprised the people 
of Detroit was concerned, the evacuation made but little 
difference, although the change gave an impetus to the 
growth of its business as well as of its population. Though 
Gen. St. Clair was appointed governor, he never came here, 
and Winthrop Sargent acted in that capacity. Wayne 
county was organized, and had dimensions to warm the 
cockles in the heart of the latter day politician. It included 
all the present state of Michigan, the eastern half of Wis- 
consin, and large portions of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. 
This modest county took in what is now Chicago, Toledo 
and Cleveland as far east as the Cuyahoga River. 




THE WALK IN THE WATER. 
From an Engraving in Possession of C. M. 

87 



THE BOIS BLANC DISPUTE. 

There came upon the village the shadow of another war 
when Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe began to fortify Bois Blanc island 
under the claim that there was an intent on the part of the 
Americans to take possession of it. On the protest of this 
government he was commanded to desist, and the ques- 
tion of ownership abided the 1 negotiations which followed. 
Under the treaty that had been ratified, the boundary line 
between the American and British possessions in this country 
was to follow the line of the deepest channels of the waters 
dividing the two countries. This prevented all dispute until 
Bois Blanc was reached on the route from the east. Here 
there was a long controversy, for a strict construction of 
the treaty would have given the island to America and 
left the Canadians a comparatively narrow strip of water 
at that point. Gen. Cass insisted that the island belonged 
to this country, and so urged upon Henry Clay, then secre- 
tary of state. But the latter appears to> have been moved 
by a strained sense of equity and made the concession. For 
this he was severely censured in congress and by the country 
at large. i 

DEFEATED LAND GRABS. 

In 1795, while the two nations were quarreling about 
the sovereignty of the northwest, and when the clear- 
headed British citizens were beginning to realize that the 
territory would inevitably pass under the dominion of the 
United States, several big land grabs were planned by 
citizens of Detroit, who were British sympathizers. These 
grabs seemed to have been conceived with a view to 

88 



acquiring the lands by private ownership after the British 
sovereignty over them had ceased. One of them was 
conceived in the mind of a Dr. Robert Randall, and it 
contemplated the securing to private ownership 20,000,000 
acres of land, comprising the entire lower peninsula of 
Michigan, with parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The 
plot was far reaching, for Randall had interested in the 
northwest such men as John Askin, John Askin, Jr., Robert 
Innes, William Robertson, David Robertson and Jonathan 
Scheiffelin. There were also partners manipulating the 
scheme at Philadelphia, then the seat of government. Some 
distinguished men of New England were also involved, and 
members of congress were on the ground floor. Their 
petition offered the government $500,000 for the land. 

OFFERED AN INDUCEMENT. 

An additional inducement held out to the government 
for the confirmation of the titles was the claim that the 
Indians within the territory ceded would be kept quiet 
by its owners. Just how they expected to control the sav- 
ages does not appear in the developments made, but this 
proffer was in keeping with the rest of the swindling oper- 
ation. Congressmen were to be bribed with stock and 
promoters were to be generously cared for. 

But the enterprise was destined to failure. On Decem- 
ber 28, 1795, Hon. William Smith, member of congress 
from Virginia, arose and calmly exposed the whole con- 
spiracy, stating openly that an attempt had been made to 
bribe him by Randall. Murray, of Maryland, and Giles, 
of Virginia, announced that like infamous proposals had 

89 



been made to them, as did James Madison and others. 
Randall and Whitney, of Vermont, were placed under 
arrest and held for nearly a month while congress had the 
matter under discussion. There were also civil arrests made 
at the request of President Washington. But there were 
so many men of influence implicated that the investigations 
were whitewash affairs, and the conspirators escaped with 
the ignominy they had brought upon themselves. 

About the same time John Askin and his associates had 
conceived several other colossal land grabbing schemes. 
The territory on the south shore of Lake Erie, between 
the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Sandusky, a distance 
of 59 miles, and running back an equal distance, making 
a tract of about 2,400,000 acres, was held by the Indians. 
By promises of rum, guns, money, etc., 34 chiefs were 
induced to affix their totems to a deed conveying the tract 
to this syndicate. Askin also engaged in a similar trans- 
action by which he acquired an Indian title to a large 
tract on the Maumee River. For pressing these claims John 
Askin, Jr., was arrested at Greenville by the American 
authorities, and was in jail a short time. Of course the 
claims were not allowed by the government, and the deeds 
are valuable only as historical curiosities. 

a traveler's description. 

Isaac Weld made a tour of the states and Canada in 
1795-6, and in 1799 published a book, as most travelers 
did in that day. He visited Detroit in October, 1796, three 
months after the evacuation of the town by the British, and 



90 



his description of the town is of interest at this time, the 
centennial of the American possession. 

"Detroit contains about 300 houses,'' he wrote, "and is 
the largest town in the western country. It stands con- 
tiguous to the river, on the top of the banks, which are 
here about 20 feet high. At the bottom of them there 
are very extensive wharfs for the accommodation of the 
shipping, built of wood, similar to those in the Atlantic 
seaports. The town consists of several streets that run 
parallel to the river, which are intersected by others at right 
angles. They are all very narrow, and not being paved, 
dirty in the extreme whenever it happens to rain; for the 
accommodation of passengers, however, there are footways 
in most of them, formed of square logs, laid traversely 
close to each other. 

"The town is surrounded by a strong stockade, through 
which there are four gates, two of them open to the wharfs, 
and the two others to the north and south side of the 
town respectively. The gates are defended by strong block- 
houses, and on the west side of the town is a small fort in 
form of a square, with bastions at the angles. At each 
of the corners of this fort is planted a small field piece, 
and these constitute the whole of the ordnance at present 
in the place. The British kept a considerable train of 
artillery here, but the place was never capable of holding 
out for any length of time against a regular force; the forti- 
fications, indeed, were constructed chiefly as a defense 
against the Indians. 



91 



TROOPS UNDISCIPLINED. 

"Detroit is at present the headquarters of the western 
army of the states; the garrison consists of 300 men, who 
are quartered in barracks. Very little attention is paid 
by the officers to the minutia of discipline, so that however 
well the men may have acquitted themselves in the field, 
they make but a poor appearance on parade. 

"The belles of the town are quite au desespoir at the late 
departure of the British troops, though the American officers 
tell them they have no reason to be so>, as they will find 
them much more sensible and agreeable men than the Brit- 
ish officers when they know them, a style of conversation, 
which, strange as it may appear to us, is yet not at all 
uncommon amongst them. Three months, however, have 
not altered the first opinion of the ladies. 

"I cannot better give you an idea of the unpolishei5, 
coarse, discordant manners of the generality of the officers 
of the western army of the states than by telling you that 
they cannot agree sufficiently amongst themselves to form 
a regimental mess; repeated attempts have been made since 
their arrival at Detroit to establish one, but their freqaent 
quarrels would never suffer it to remain permanent. A 
duelist and an officer of the western army were nearly 
synonymous terms, at one time, in the United States, 
owing to the very great number of duels that took place 
amongst them when cantoned at Greenville. 



92 



THE TOWN S INHABITANTS. 

"About two-thirds of the inhabitants of Detroit are of 
French extraction, and the greater part of the inhabitants 
of the settlements on the river, both above and below the 
town, are of the same description. The former are mostly 
engaged in trade, and they all appear to be much on an 
equality. Detroit is a place of very considerable trade; 
there are no less than 12 trading vessels, belonging to it, 
brigs, sloops and schooners, of from 50 to 100 tons burden 
each. The inland navigation in this quarter is indeed veiy 
extensive, Lake Erie, 300 miles in length, being open to 
vessels belonging to the port, on the one side, and Lakes 
Michigan and Huron, the first upwards of 200 miles in 
length and 50 in breadth, and the second no less than i,ogo 
miles in circumference, on the opposite side; not to speak 
of Lake St. Clair and Detroit River, which connect these 
former lakes together, or of the many large rivers which 
fall into them. The stores and shops in the town are well 
furnished, and you may buy fine cloth, linen, etc., and 
every article of wearing apparel, as good in their kind, and 
nearly on as reasonable terms, as you can purchase them 
at New York or Philadelphia. 

SHORTAGE OF SALT. 

"The inhabitants are well supplied with provisions of 
every description; the fish in particular, caught in the river 
and neighboring lakes, are of a very superior quality. The 
fish held in most estimation is a sort of large trout, called 
the Michilimackinac whitefish, from its being' caught 

93 



mostly in the straits of that name. The inhabitants of 
Detroit and the neighboring country, however, though they 
have provisions in plenty, are frequently much distressed 
for one very necessary concomitant, namely, salt. Until 
within a short time past they had no salt but what was 
brought from Europe; but salt springs have been discov- 
ered in various parts of the country, from which they are 
now beginning to manufacture that article for themselves. 
The best and most profitable of the springs are retained in 
the hands of the government, and the profits arising from 
the sale of the salt are to be paid into the treasury of the 
province. Throughout the western country they procure 
their salt from springs, some of which throw up sufficient 
water to yield several hundred bushels in the course of one 
week. 

DAUGHTERS FOR SALE. 

"There is a large Roman Catholic church in the town 
of Detroit, and another on the opposite side called the 
Huron church, from its having been devoted to the use 
of the Huron Indians. The streets of Detroit are gener- 
ally crowded with Indians of one tribe or another, and 
amongst them you see numberless old squaws leading about 
their daughters, ever ready to dispose of them, pro tem- 
pore, to the highest bidder. At night all the Indians, 
except such as get admittance into private houses, and 
remain there quietly, are turned out of town, and the gates 
shut upon them. 

"The American officers here have endeavored to their 
utmost to impress upon the minds of the Indians an idea 



94 



of their own superiority over the British; but as* they are 
very tardy in giving these people any presents, they do 
not pay much attention to their words. Gen. Wayne, from 
continually promising them presents, but at the same time 
always postponing the delivery when they come to ask 
for them, has significantly been nicknamed by them Gen. 
Wabang, that is Gen. Tomorrow. * * * 

"The country round Detroit is uncommonly flat, and 
in none of the rivers is there a fall sufficient to turn even 
a grist mill. The current of the Detroit River itself is 
stronger than that of any of them, and a floating mill was 
once invented by a Frenchman, which was chained in the 
middle of the river, where it was thought the stream would 
be sufficiently swift to turn the waterwheel; the building 
of it was attended by considerable expense to the inhabi- 
tants, but after it was finished it by no means answered 
their expectations. They grind their corn at present by 
windmills, which I do not remember to have seen in any 
other Dart of North America." 



95 



THE FIRST FAMILIES OF DETROIT, 

( From the Detroit Journal, July 11. 1896.) 

Detroit is remarkably fortunate in the number of its old 
families which are still flourishing and prominent in the 
business interests of the city. Many of these are sprung 
from the most influential families of the old world, and 
one, at least, the Navarre, is sprung from a race of kings. 
This name appears no more in Detroit records, for the 
reason that it is represented only upon the mother's side. 
The founders of several of these families are known to have 
come with Cadillac; and the founder of one, in fact, is 
fabled to have been here already and to have been one of 
the Indian traders who met Cadillac on the banks of the 
Detroit. All have been equally prominent in the affairs 
of our home, and from the earliest times their members 
have appeared on the side of whatever was most for the 
interest of their community. 

To one family especially we are indebted for brave 
acts, and here and there a life lost in war with Indians; 
to another for many of our first buildings. Each family 
displays some characteristic which marks it in every gener- 
ation. To all we are indebted for the same loyalty and 
energy. As time has passed, younger generations of these 
same families have carried on the work of their fathers, 
and have maintained the same standing in public affairs. 
For today, as 150 years ago, many of the same names are 
prominent and influential. 



96 




p y lit 
§/// (nil I 



i\_iii 






One family, as has been said above, is claimed to have 
been here before Cadillac in 1701. A few were founded 
in the first ten years after his arrival, five or six in the 
period of reviving prosperity after the depression of 171 5; 
but the greatest number came to the city between this time 
and 1760. From this time on to the end of the century, 
the period of activity, this score of families, bound together 
by marriage and friendship and the common object of 
securing the best results for our city in every difficulty, 
were the leading factors in the control and the history of 
the town. 

Living in a small stockade, and bound by the ties of 
a common danger and common amusements, these families, 
representing the influential and aristocratic part of the 
colony, intermarried to such an extent that there is scarcely 
one of the original names which has not, as a part of it, 
several of the others. By reason of this intermarrying 
and the lack of male heirs, nearly half of the original names 
no longer appear in public records. 

Another reason that one recognizes today so few of the old 
French names is that as the town came under English and 
American influence the French names were frequently trans- 
lated. Still another reason is the great number of names a 
Frenchman had, and his inconsistency in using them. For 
instance, the founder of Detroit, whose name in full was 
"Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac," usually signed himself "La- 
mothe Cadillac," but often he is found in records as "Antoine 
Lamothe," "La Mothe" or "La Motte." 



97 



But the most important reason is that the old inhabitants, 
living so much in common with the Indians, and conse- 
quently acquiring many of their customs, gave names to 
each other, describing some well known trait in their charac- 
ter, or some incident in their life, and these nicknames often 
superseded the true ones. 

Although there are few definite records to be found as to 
the early grants, it is probable that as each bona fide settler 
came to Detroit he received from the commandant a grant 
of four arpents, nearly equal to three and a half of our acres. 
The order of their establishment is as a general fact shown 
in the position of their farms, the oldest families holding 
those nearest the heart of the present city, or, as it was then, 
nearest the stockade. Nearly all of these farms bordered 
on the river and the original positions of many of them is 
preserved in the manner of the streets running through them 
at right angles to the river. 

Owing to neglect in the arranging of other details, Cadil- 
lac was not vested with the power to make grants when he 
founded the city. In fact, he did not receive the legal right 
before 1705, though farms were allotted to the settlers long 
before that. The conditions of some of these king's grants 
were curious enough. In one, made by Cadillac in 1707, the 
grantee, or one who received the farm, was bound to pay 
rent of about $3 a year to the king. He was bound to begin 
clearing his land before three months from the time he re- 
ceived it. All timber such as could be used for fortifications 
or vessels was reserved for the government. The privilege 
of hunting rabbits, partridges and all small game was re- 
served to the grantor, Cadillac. The grantee was bound to 

98 



help raise on the first day of May of each year a long May- 
pole before the door of the principal manor house. All the 
grain was ground at the manor mill and a fixed price was 
paid for grinding. A tax was to be collected for the king on 
every transfer of the land, and before a sale the tenant must 
give the authorities notice, so that should the government 
be willing to pay the price offered by the would-be purchaser, 
it should have the option of buying. The grantee was abso- 
lutely forbidden to sell or trade intoxicating liquors to the 
Indians. He was bound to make his fences in a specified 
manner, and, if called upon, to help in the construction of 
his neighbor's, and he was also bound to permit such roads 
upon his land as were deemed necessary for the public good. 
By the terms of this grant, it is quite evident that the 
government intended the commandant to be master. 




THE CAMPAU HOUSE ON JEFFERSON AVENUE. 

One has only to be an observer to learn how well the 
Campau family preserves its prestige. It was founded in 
Detroit in 1707 and 1708 by Michel and Jacques. The fam- 
ily still hold the greater part of their original grant, and in 



99 






the rapid growth of the city it has become exceedingly valu- 
able and was, a few years ago, one of the two most valuable 
estates. 

The Godfroy family is sprung from a race that was in the 
17th century, second only to royalty. One of their ancestors 
was secretary of state and syndic of the French republic. 
The founder in Detroit was Pierre Godefroy, as it was then 
spelled, who came in 171 5. He and his immediate descend- 
ants had heavy interests in the Canadian fur trade. Pierre's 
line died out and the real founder was Jacques, who came 
shortly after his kinsman. His son Jacques figured prom- 
inently in the Pontiac war. After his attempted treachery, 
Pontiac tried to regain the confidence of the commander, 
Maj. Gladwin, by asking for a conference. The officer, 
while granting the request for a parley, relaxed none of his 
vigilance. He sent Jacques Godfroy and Jean Chapoton. 
Nothing being accomplished, the chief threw off his mask 
of friendliness and made an open attack upon the fort. 

This family has so intermarried with the other pioneer 
families that the greater number of its members living now 
are enrolled under other families. 



Alexander Chapoton, Jr., is the best known of the repre- 
sentatives of this family living here. The family was 
founded before 1720 by Jean, the second physician of Fort 
Pontchartrain. For 40 years he held this commission for 
the French government, and retiring a few years before the 
surrender to the English, settled on his grant. That he held 
the interests of the settlement dearest to his heart is evident 



100 



in the fact that he gave to the colony 20 children. One of 
these, Jean Baptiste, was the companion of Jacques Gode- 
froy at his unsuccessful parley with Pontiac. 

The founder of the Navarre family was distantly related 
to Henry IV., the line being unbroken from the Duke de 
Yendome, Henry's father. Robert Navarre came to Detroit 
in the office of royal notary some time before 1734, at which 
time he is known to have married. The branch is still pre- 
served through the mother's side in many of our most promi- 
nent families today. 

Zacharie Chiquot was the founder in 1736 of the Cicotte — 
as it is now spelled — family. This family was famous in the 
early days for the fine collection of silver plate in its posses- 
sion. Remnants of this fine property are still owned by the 
descendants. 

About a large family whose early members were hardy 
and adventurous, there necessarily hang many traditions, 
part truth and part imagination. Told from generation to 
generation as they have been, and interwoven with the weird 
superstitions of the red men and pioneers, these stories have 
reached us as pure legends. It is related of Jean, son of 
the founder Zacharie, that, at one time, when by royal edict, 
liquor had been forbidden to be sold or traded to the Indians, 
and they, in consequence, had threatened to sell their fine 
winter's gathering of furs to the English, he was sent secretly 
by De Tonty, the commandant, with the purpose of intoxi- 
cating the natives and then buying their furs. His errand 
was successful, but as he was returning to* the fort he was 
set upon by goblins and the Loup-Garou, the devil in the 
form of a wolf, and his ill-gotten load taken from him. This 



101 



family is no longer represented under the same name in 
Detroit; 

The Barthe family is represented still in Detroit by Mrs. 
Richard Storrs Willis, though the name itself was lost by 
marriage two generations ago. Founded some time before 
1747 in the last of the same century, it was large and flour- 
ishing. 

The Dubois family was founded in several branches at dif- 
ferent times before 1750. Though well known up to the last 
generation, the representatives now in Detroit are few. 



The Baby family, though in its early generation closely 
connected with our city's history, has in the last half of a 
century rather died out in Detroit, the greater number living 
in Canada, where it is still represented in the first ranks of 
every vocation. Its founder in Detroit was Jacques Du- 
peron Baby, who arrived before 1760. His name figures 
prominently in the siege of Pontiae. 

The Moran family are now, as they were when the founder 
of the name, Charles Morand Grimard, was first mentioned 
in Ste. Anrie's records, in 1706, active and influential. The 
family is scattered throughout Canada, Before the division 
among his sons, at the death of Judge Charles Moran, the 
estate left was the third largest in Detroit. 

One branch of the Moran family was distinctly related to 
the wife of Cadillac. It is told how, long ago, Jacques 
Morand, as the name was spelled then, met and loved the 
daughter of an Indian trader who pitched his camp with the 
Indians on the shore of Lake St. Clair. But the maiden was 
already consecrated to her God. She had long wished to 



enter a convent, and the wish had just been granted. This 
only served to madden her lover, who, at the price of his 
soul, assumed the form of the Loup-Garou, the phantom 
wolf. In this form he persuaded the pious girl, who saved 
herself by a prayer which turned the monster to stone. 

These nine are the families still most influential in our 
city, but there were many others, including the Beaufait, 
Chene, Beaubien, De Quindre, Desnoyers, Gamelin, Maran- 
tay, Rivard and St. Aubin, which were in the early days influ- 
ential and public-spirited, but which have either died out or 
married under new names in the last few generations. 



EARLY DETROIT, 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 
Sheldon's "Early History of Michigan" says that Fort 
Pontchartrain, built by Cadillac in 1701, was about the size 
of the city square, and occupied the ground from Jefferson 
avenue to Woodbridge street, which was then the water's 
edge, and from the Cooper block on the east (T. A. McGraw 
& Co.), to a little west of the old Michigan Exchange, now 
Pingree & Smith's. 

At the time of Pontiac's conspiracy, in 1763, the fortifica- 
tions had been greatly extended, and the entire town was 
within the palisades. This inclosure extended from where 
now is Griswold street to the westerly line of the old fort; 
from the river to where now is the alley between Jefferson 
avenue and Larned street, the inclosed space being about 
1,200 yards in circumference. The east entrance was called 
Pontiac's gate, after the conspiracy. Ste. Anne street was 
about at the south line of Jefferson avenue and Ste. Anne's 
church stood on the north side. On the south side there 

103 



was a large military garden, in which stood a block house. 
Here the officers met for consultation, and here the Indian 
councils were held. The church and the block house were 
the only public buildings in the town. 

When the Americans marched into the inclosure ioo years 
ago, the eastern boundary had been extended up the line of 
Griswold street across the Savoyard creek tot about the north 
line of Congress street, and there ran oft westwardly to the 
southeastern angle of Fort Lernoult, or Shelby, as it was 
thereafter called, this angle being south of Fort street and 
east of Shelby. The western boundary was at Cass street, 
and crooked eastwardly to intersect the western angle of the 
fort, giving the town a somewhat triangular form. 

The first settlers were French, and they had intermarried 
with the Indians. During British dominion here a few Eng- 
lish and Scotch families came in and took up grants of land 
along the river. By 1796 all these had become prosperous. 
They owned large numbers of cattle, horses and sheep, and 
raised all the grain their necessities required. This was 
ground in the old French windmills, one being near the 
mouth of the Savoyard, and a second one at the Rouge. 
The women did not know how to spin or weave, and the 
fleeces from the sheep were used to cover cellar windows, 
and for other like purposes. 

The vexatious cartwheel plan that has the Campus Mar- 
tius and Grand Circus for its hubs, was the work of Judge 
Woodward, who gave his name to the axle. September 8, 
1806, he submitted a bill for the incorporation of Detroit as 
a city. It was passed on the 13th and entitled "An act con- 
cerning the city of Detroit." Two days later the first bank 



104 



of Detroit was incorporated, but congress revoked its charter 
in 1809. The bank building was on the northwest corner of 
Jefferson avenue and Randolph street, and the directors paid 
$395-75 for the lot. . 



In laying out the new city, Ste. Anne street was widened 
and became Jefferson avenue. The site of Ste. Anne's 
church was in the middle >of it. Fr. Gabriel Richard, vicar- 
general of the order of Sulpitians, asked the governor and 
judges to allot a new site, and a site for an academy for boys. 
At the same time Angelique Campau and Elizabeth Will- 
iams, nuns, sent in a petition for a lot upon which to erect 
an academy for girls. For these purposes the land on the 
south side of East and West avenue (Cadillac square), be- 
tween Bates and Randolph streets, to Larned street, was 
given. In 1807 the Protestants asked for a lot upon which 
to build a church, and the northeast corner of Woodward 
avenue and Larned street was given. 

In 1806 the second Indian conspiracy for the destruction 
of Detroit was hatched. Tecumseh and his brother, Ellsh- 
watawa (the Prophet), encouraged by the British, sowed dis- 
affection amongst the Wyandots and other tribes near De- 
troit, and in 1807 matters became so threatening that the 
governor ordered the inhabited portion of the new city to be 
inclosed with a strong stockade. The eastern boundary of 
this stockade was at Brush street, and the western was near 
Cass street. There was a gate at Brush and Atwater streets, 
and a block-house just east of the Biddle House. The west- 
ern gate was on Jefferson avenue, about 100 feet west of 
Cass street. About the time the palisade was completed 



105 



Hull effected a treaty with the Ottawa s, Chippewas, Potta- 
wattomies and Wyandots; Tecumseh and his Shawanese 
were left alone, and the conspiracy was at an end. 



CAPTIVE WHITE BOY STOLEN BY INDIANS IN OHIO 
AND BROUGHT TO MICHIGAN, 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896,) 

In 1793, O. M. Spencer, then a lad of 12, in after years a 
minister of the gospel, while at play with other boys near 
Cincinnati, was taken captive by a prowling band of Miami 
Indians and brought to their village near the present site of 
Fort Wayne. His parents sought the assistance of Gen. 
Washington, and at his request Gen. Simcoe, commander- 
in-chief of the British forces in the northwest, directed Col. 
England, then in command at Detroit, to ransom the lad. 
This was done, but a few months elapsed before he could be 
sent to Cincinnati, and during this time he remained with 
the colonel at Fort Lernoult. 

Even at that age young Spencer was an intelligent and 
observing lad, and kept a daily journal of all he saw and 
heard. Subsequently this journal was published, and the 
following is the boy's description of Detroit three years be- 
fore it became an American possession : 

"Detroit is a small town, contains only wooden buildings, 
but few of which are well furnished, surrounded by high 
pickets inclosing an area of probably half a mile square, 
about one-third of which, along the bank of the river, as the 

106 



strait is called, is covered with houses. There are four nar- 
row streets running parallel with the river, and intersected by 
four or five more at right angles. At each end of the second 
street is an entrance, secured by heavy wooden gates. North 
of this street, at the west end of the town, is a space about 
200 feet square, inclosed on a part of two sides with palisades, 
within which a row of handsome two-story barracks, for the 
accommodation of the officers, occupies the west side, and 
buildings of the same height for the soldiers' quarters stand 
on the north and a part of the east side. The open space is 
a parade ground, where the troops are every day exercised 
by the adjutant. 

"In the northwest corner of the large area, inclosed with 
pickets, on ground slightly elevated, stands the fort. It is 
separated from the houses by an esplanade, and is sur- 
rounded, first by an abatis of treetops about four feet high, 
having the butts of the limbs sharpened and projecting out- 
ward; then by a deep ditch, in the center of which are high 
pickets ; and then by a row of light palisades, seven or eight 
feet long, projecting horizontally from the glacis. 

"The fort itself covers not more than half an acre of 
ground. It is square, with a bastion at each angle, and with 
parapets and ramparts so high as to entirely shelter the quar- 
ters within, which are bomb-proof. The entrance to the fort 
is on the south side, facing the river, and is over a draw- 
bridge, and through a covered way, over which on each 
side are long iron cannon, carrying 24-pound shots, which 
the officers call the 'British lions.' On each of the other 
sides are two cannon, and on each bastion four, some six, 
some nine, and some twelve-pounders. By the side of the 



107 



gate, near the end of the officers' barracks, there is a 24- 
pounder, and there are two small batteries of cannon on the 
bank of the river for the protection of the south side of the 
town. 

"The fort is garrisoned by a company of artillery under 
the command of Capt. Spear, two companies of infantry, and 
one of grenadiers, of the Twenty-fourth regiment, which is 
Col. England's regiment. The other companies are at 
Michilimackinac and other northern posts. 

"Anchored in the river in front of the town are three brigs 
of about 200 tons each. The Chippewa and Ottawa are 
new, and carry eight guns each. The Dunmore is an old 
vessel and carries six guns. There is a sloop, the Felicity, 
of about 100 tons, armed with two swivels. These vessels 
all belong to his majesty, George III., and are commanded 
by Commodore Grant. There are besides, several merchant- 
men, sloops and schooners, the property of private indi- 
viduals." 

After the Stars and Stripes began to wave above the fort, 
emigrants from France commenced to arrive and occasion- 
ally an American from the state would venture thus far 
into the wilderness. There were no sawmills, and lumber 
was cut by hand. The first Yankee trader to arrive was 
Stephen Mack. He erected a shanty and opened an em- 
porium of fashion, selling calico at 75 cents, and "apron 
check" for $1 per yard. Tea cost $2 per pound. 

On January 1 1, 1805, that part of the great northern terri- 
tory lying between Lake Michigan on the west, Lakes 
Huron, St. Clair and Erie and their connecting rivers on the 



108 



east, was organized into the territory of Michigan by an act 
of congress. William Hull was appointed governor; Au- 
gustus B. Woodward, Frederick Bates and John Griffin 




VIEW OF DETROIT IN 17%. 
From a Drawing in Possession of C. M. Burton. 

judges, but they did not arrive until June 12. June 11, just 
five months after the territory was organized, a fire broke out 
at midday and at nightfall the village of Detroit consisted of 
one dwelling house on Ste. Anne street, a brick storehouse, 
and piles of smoking ashes. Hull and the other territorial 
officers were sworn in the second Tuesday of July, and then 
the people who had been living in tents and huts, became 
inspired with hope and courage, and commenced erecting 
houses. The fire had obliterated all lines and boundaries, 
but congress passed an act authorizing the governor and 
judges to lay out a new town, including all previous ground 



109 



and 10,000 acres adjacent. Every person above the age of 
17, who did not owe allegiance to a foreign power, and 
owned or occupied a house when the fire broke out, was 
given a lot of 5,000 square feet. What remained of the 
10,000 acres was sold, and the proceeds applied to the erec- 
tion of a courthouse and jail. 



CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

The story of the conspiracy of Pontiac and other Indian 
chiefs to capture the fort in May, 1763, has frequently been 
written, but the following is the official report of Lieut. Mac- 
Donaid to Lieut-Col. Bouquet, under date of July 12 of 
that year: 

"You certainly have heard long before now of our mis- 
fortunes at the Detroit and its dependencies, but as it may be 
satisfactory to you to be more particularly informed, do my- 
self the pleasure to give you an exact account of all that has 
happened in this department, and hope that you'll do me the 
justice to believe that I would have written you and com- 
municated the same long ago had an opportunity offered. 

"On Friday, the 6th of May, we were privately informed 
of a conspiracy formed against us by the Indians, particu- 
larly the Ottawa Nation, who were to come to council with 
us the next day, and massacre every soul of us. 

"On the morning of that day, being Saturday, the 7th day 
of May, 15 of their warriors came into the fort and seemed 
very inquisitive and anxious to know where all the English 

no 



merchants' shops were. At 9 o'clock the garrison were or- 
dered under arms, and the savages continued coming into the 
fort until 11 o'clock, diminishing their number as much as 
possible by dividing themselves at all the corners of the 
streets most adjacent to the shops. Before 12 o'clock they 
were 300 men, at least three times in number equal to that of 
the garrison, but seeing all the troops under arms, and find- 
ing the merchants' shops shut, I imagined prevented them 
from attempting to put their evil scheme in execution that 
day. 



"Observing us thus prepared, their chiefs came in a very 
condemned like manner to council, where they spoke a great 
deal of nonsense to Maj. Gladwin and Capt. Campbell, pro- 
testing at the same time the greatest friendship imaginable to 
them, but expressing their surprise at seeing all the officers 
and men under arms. 

"The major then told them that he had certain intelligence 
that some Indians were projecting mischief, and on that ac- 
count he was determined to have the troops always under 
arms upon such occasions; that they, being the oldest nation, 
and the first to come to council, need not be astonished at 
that precaution, as he was resolved to do the same to all 
nations. At 2 o'clock they had done speaking, went off 
seemingly very discontented, and crossed the river half a 
league from the fort, where they all encamped. 

"About 6 o'clock that afternoon six of their warriors re- 
turned and brought an old squaw prisoner, alleging that she 
had given us false information against them. The major 
declared she had never given any kind of advice. They then 

in 



insisted upon naming the author of what he heard with re- 
gard to the Indians, which he declined to do, but told them it 
was one of themselves, whose name he promised never to 
reveal, whereupon they went off and carried the old woman 
with them. When they arrived at their camp, Pontiac, their 
greatest chief, seized on the prisoner and gave her three 
strokes with a stick on the head which laid her flat on the 
ground, and the whole nation assembled round her, and 
called repeatedly: 'Kill her! Kill her!' 



"Sunday, the 8th, Pontiac and several others of their prin- 
cipal chiefs came into the fort at 5 o'clock in the afternoon 
and brought a pipe of peace with them, with which they 
wanted to convince us fully of their friendship and sincerity, 
but the major, judging that they only wanted to caggole us, 
would not go nigh them, nor give them any countenance, 
which obliged Capt. Campbell to go and speak to them, and 
after smoking with the pipe of peace, and assuring him of 
their fidelity, they said that the next morning all the nation 
would come to council, when everything would be settled to 
our satisfaction, after which they would immediately disperse, 
and that would remove all kind of suspicion. Accordingly, 
on Monday morning, the 9th, six of their warriors came into 
the fort at 6 o'clock, and upon seeing the garrison under 
arms, went off without being observed. About 10 o'clock 
o'clock we counted 56 canoes with about 7 and 8 men in each 
crossing the river from their camp, and when they arrived 
nigh the Fort, the gates were shut and the interpreter sent 
to tell them that not above 50 or 60 chiefs would be admitted 
into the Fort, upon which Pontiac immediately desired the 



112 



interpreter in a peremptory manner to return directly and 
acquaint us that if all their people had not free access into 
the fort, none of them would enter it; that we might stay in 
our Fort, but he would keep the country, adding that he 
would order a party instantly to an island where we had 24 
bullocks, which they immediately killed. Unluckily three 
soldiers were on the island and a poor man with his wife and 
four children, which they all murthered except two children, 
as also a poor woman and her two sons that lived about half 
a mile from the fort. 



"After having thus put all the English without the fort to 
death, they ordered a Frenchman, who had seen the woman 
and her two sons killed and scalped, to come and inform us 
of it, and likewise of their having murdered Sir Robert 
Davers, Capt. Robertson and a boat's crew of six persons 
two days before near the entrance of Lake Huron, from 
which place they set off from here on Monday, the 2d, in 
order to know if these lakes and rivers were navigable for a 
schooner which lay here to proceed to Michilimackinac. 
We were then fully persuaded that the information given us 
was well founded, and a proper disposition was made for the 
defense of the fort, although our number was but small, not 
exceeding 120, including all the English traders, and the 
works very nigh a mile in circumference. 

"On Tuesday, the 10th, early in the morning the savages 
began to fire on the fort and vessels which lay opposite to it. 
About 8 o'clock the Indians called a parley, ceased firing, 
and half an hour after the chiefs of the Wyandottes came into 
the fort on their way to council, where they were called by 



i J 3 



the Ottawas, and promised us to endeavor to solicit to and 
persuade the Ottawas from committing further hostilities 
After drinking glasses of rum they went off. 

"At 3 o'clock, several of the inhabitants, and four chiefs, of 
the Ottawas, Wyandottes, Chippewas and Pottawattomies 
come and acquainted us that most of all the inhabitants were 
assembled at a Frenchman's house about a mile from the 
fort, where the savages proposed to hold a council, and de- 
siring Capt. Campbell and another officer to go with them to 
that council, where they hoped with their presence and assist- 
ance further hostilities would cease, assuring us at the same 
time that be as it would, that Capt. Campbell and the other 
officers that went with him should return whenever they 
pleased. This promise was ascertained (asserted) by the 
French as well as the Indian chiefs, whereupon Capt. Camp- 
bell and Lieut. McDougall went off, escorted by a number of 
inhabitants and the four chiefs. The first promised to be 
answerable for their returning that night. 

"When they arrived at the house above mentioned they 
found the French and Indians assembled, and after council- 
ling a long time, the Wiandottes were prevailed upon to sing 
the war song, and this being done it was next resolved that 
Capt. Campbell and Lieut. McDougall should be detained 
prisoners, but would be indulged to lodge in a Frenchman's 
house till a French commandant arrived from Illinois; that 
next day five Indians and as many Canadians would be dis- 
patched to acquaint the commanding officer at the Illinois 
that Detroit was in their possession, and required of him to 
send an officer to command, to whom Capt. Campbell and 
Lieut. McDougall should be delivered. As for Maj. Glad- 
ly 



win, he was summoned to give up the fort and two vessels, 
etc., the troops to ground their arms; that they would allow- 
as many battoes and as much provisions as they judged 
requisite for us to go to Niagara ; that if these proposals were 
not accepted of, they were 1,000 men and would storm the 
Fort at all events, and in that case every soul of us should be 
put to the torture. 

"The major returned for answer that as soon as the two 
officers were permitted to come into the fort, he would, after 
consulting them, give a positive answer to their demands; 
but could do nothing without obtaining their opinion. 

"On Wednesday, the nth, several inhabitants came early 
in the morning into the fort, and advised us by way of friend- 
ship to make our escape aboard the vessels, assuring us we 
had no other method by which we could preserve our lives, 
as the Indians were then 1,500 fighting men and would be as 
many more in a few days, and that they were fully determined 
to attack us in an hour's time. 



"We told the monsieurs we were ready to receive them, 
and that every officer and soldier in the fort would willingly 
perish in the defense of it rather than condescend or agree to 
any terms that savages would propose, upon which the 
French went off, as I suppose to communicate what he had 
said to their allies, and in a little afterwards the Indians gave 
their usual hoop, and about 500 or 600 began to attack the 
fort on all quarters. Indeed, some of them behaved ex- 
tremely well, advanced very boldly in an open plain, exposed 
to all our fire, and came within 60 yards of the fort, but upon 
having three men killed and about a dozen wounded, they 



"5 



retired as briskly as they had advanced, and fired at 300 yards 
distance till 7 o'clock at night, when they sent a Frenchman 
into the fort with a letter for the major, desiring a cessation 
of arms that night, and proposing to let the troops with their 
arms go on board the vessels, but insisting on our giving up 
the fort,leaving the French artillery,all the merchandise and 
officers' effects, and had even the insolence to demand a 
negro boy belonging to a merchant, to be delivered to 
Pontiac. 

"The major's reply to their extraordinary propositions 
was much the same as the first. 



"Thursday, the 12th, five Frenchmen and as many Indians 
were sent off for the Illinois with letters wrote by a Can- 
adian agreeable to Pondiac's desire. On the 13th, we were 
informed by the inhabitants that Mr. Chapman, a trader 
from Niagara, was taken prisoner by the Wiandotes with 
five battoes loaded with goods. The 21st, one of the vessels 
was ordered to sail for Niagara, but to remain till the 
June 6, at the mouth of the river in order to advert some 
battoes which we expected daily from Niagara. On the 
22nd, we were told that Ensign Paullus, who commanded 
at Sandusky, was brought prisoner by 10 Ottawas, who 
reported that they had prevailed after a long consultation 
with the Wiandotes who lived at Sandusky, to declare war 
against us; that some days ago they came early of a morn- 
ing to the blockhouse there and murdered every soul 
therein, consisting of 27 persons, traders included; that 
Messrs. Callender and Prenties, formerly captains in the 

116 



Pennsylvania regiment, were among that number, and that 
they had taken ioo horses loaded with Indian goods, which, 
with the plunder of the garrison was agreed on to be given 
to the Wiandotes before they condescended to join them; 
that all the\- wanted was the commanding officer. 

"On the 29th of May we had the mortification to see 
eight of our battoes in possession of the enemy passing 
on the opposite shore with several soldiers aboard. Called 
at these in the battoe that if they passed the savages would 
kill them all, upon w r hich they immediately seized upon 
two Indians and threw them overboard. Unluckily one 
of the Indians brought a soldier overboard with him and 
tomahawked him directly, they being near the shore and 
it quite shoal. Another soldier laid hold of an oar and 
struck that Indian upon the head of which wound he is 
since dead. Then there remained only three soldiers, of 
which two were wounded, and although 50 Indians were 
on the bank not 60 yards firing upon them the three sol- 
diers escaped on board the vessel, with the Battoe loaded 
with eight barrels of provisions, and gives the following 
account of their misfortunes, viz.: 



''That two nights before at 10 o'clock they arrived about 
six leagues from the mouth of the river, where they 
encamped; that two men went a little from the camp for 
firew r ood to boil the kettle, where one of the two was 
seized by an Indian, killed and scalped in an instant. The 
other soldier ran directly and alarmed the camp, upon 
which Lieut. Cuyler immediately ordered to give ammu- 
nition to the detachment, which consisted of one sergeant 



117 



and 17 soldiers of the Royal Americans, three sergeants 
and 75 rank and file of the Queen's Independent Company 
of Rangers. After having delivered their ammunition and 
a disposition made of the men, the enemy came close to 
them without being observed behind a bank, and fired 
very smartly upon our flank which could not sustain the 
enemy's fire, and they retiring precipitately threw the whole 
in confusion. By that means the soldiers embarked aboard 
the Battoes with one, two and three oars in each Battoe, 
which gave an opportunity to the savages of taking them 
all except Lieut. Cuyler and 30 men that made their escape 
in the Battoes to Niagara. 

"On the night of the 2nd inst. Capt. Campbell and Lieut, 
McDougall made a resolution to escape. It was agreed 
on between them that Mr. McDougall should set off first, 
which he did, and got safe into the fort. But you know it 
was much more dangerous for Capt. Campbell than for 
any other person, by reason that he could neither run nor 
see, and being sensible of that failing I am sure prevented 
him from attempting to escape. 



"The 4th a detachment was ordered to destroy some 
breastworks and entrenchment the Indians had made a 
quarter of a mile from the fort, and about 20 Indians came 
to attack that party, which they engaged, but were drove 
off in an instant with the loss of one man killed and two 
wounded, which our people scalped and cut in pieces. Half 
an hour afterwards the savages carried the man they had 
lost before Capt. Campbell, stripped him naked, and directly 
murdered him in a cruel manner, which indeed gives me 

118 



pain beyond expression, and I am sure cannot miss but to 
affect sensibly all his acquaintances. My present comfort 
is that if charity, innocence and integrity is a sufficient 
dispensation for all mankind, that entitles him for happiness 
in the world to come.'' 

THE BLOODY RUN — TWO STORIES OF THE FAMOUS INDIAN 

MASSACRE. 

It is an old and a trite saying that one story is good 
until another is told. The French and Indian account of 
the tragedies of July 4 differs very materially from the Eng- 
lish story as told by Lieut. MacDonald. It is that Lieut. 
Hay and a number of soldiers started from the fort to the 
house of M. Baby, to get some powder and lead that had 
been left there. On the way they met the nephew of an 
Ojibway chief, killed him, tore off his scalp, and shook it 
toward the enemy. The chief ran to the house of M. Meloche, 
where Campbell was confined, bound him to a fence, shot 
him to death with arrows, cut off his head, tore out his 
heart and ate it. 

The wanton killing of the Indian had fired anew the 
hearts of the chiefs, and it was determined to destroy the 
fort and all who were in it. Pontiac was at their head, 
a crafty and fearless leader, and he laid a plan of siege. 
The English inhabitants had fled within the picketed inclos- 
ure, and the Indians at once cut off all supplies from the 
outside. They knew, however, that relief would soon come 
from the forts below, and they resorted to every artifice and 
strategy known in savage warfare. To prevent the vessels 
anchored in the river from going after supplies, they 



119 



attempted to destroy them with fire. They constructed a 
large raft up near the mouth of Parent's creek, piled it 
high with dry wood and brush, saturated the pile with tar, 
pushed the raft out into the stream, and when it had floated 
down nearly to the vessels applied the torch. The sailors 
at once slipped their anchors, and the vessels then floated 
as rapidly as the raft. Sails were run up and the vessels 
glided to a position of safety. 



This was on the night of July 10, and as soon as the 
fire raft was in mid-stream the besieging host filled the air 
about the fort with blazing arrows. Some of them fell upon 
the houses and set them on fire, but a portion of the garri- 
son extinguished the flames, while the remainder fired at 
every Indian who exposed himself. The attempt to destroy 
Detroit with fire was a failure, and Maj. Gladwin retaliated 
for the attempt by sending the vessel up and down the river 
to fire their cannon at the Indian villages and encampments. 

Relief came to the besieged garrison on the 29th, when 
22 barges came up the river bearing Capt. Dalzell, Maj. 
Rogers, 280 soldiers, cannon, ammunition and an abundance 
of stores. Indeed, the fort was too small to accommodate 
all the officers and men, and some of them were quartered 
at the houses of the inhabitants. 

Dalzell had been a soldier in the east under Gen. Putnam, 
was a bold and fearless fighter, and held Indian warfare in 
contempt. He at once besought Gladwin to permit him 
to go out with a detachment and drive the savages away, 
but Gladwin knew the danger of going into the forest to 
fight with natives of the forest, and though he at first refused, 



120 



finally yielded. At 2 o'clock in the morning of July 31 
Dalzell, at the head of 250 men, left the fort and marched 
as silently as possible up the river road, two large bateaux, 
each carrying a swivel and a number of artillerymen, moving 
up the river to support him. 



Pontiac, however, had in some manner gained intelli- 
gence of the projected movement, and early the previous 
evening had summoned his chiefs and their warriors to a 
council at a large tree that then stood on the banks of 
Parent's Creek, just below where Jefferson avenue now 
crosses its buried channel, and there they waited the attack. 
This was ever after called "Pontiac's council tree," and old 
residents well remember it. It was cut down a few years 
ago, but its stump is still pointed out to< visitors. The 
tree has frequently been called "Pontiac's Oak/' and "Pon- 
tiac's Elm," but it was a whitewood. 

It was a starlight night, and as the close columns of 
Dalzell's command neared the banks of the creek the am- 
bushed Indians, themselves invisible, poured in a deadly 
fire. The troops returned the fire, but they might as well 
have saved their bullets. Dalzell attempted to drive the 
savages from cover by charging, but they slipped from tree 
to tree and remained invisible. Their fire was incessant 
and gallant, and Capt. Grant, who commanded one detach- 
ment, ordered a retreat. Capt. Rogers, in command of 
the other wing, fell back to the house of Jacques Campeau, 
which stood on the river bank between the present Dubois 
and Chene streets, and there maintained his position. 



121 



Dalzell saw that nothing but loss was to be gained by 
fighting with a hidden foe, and directed his command to fail 
back beyond the range of their bullets. He endeavored to 
carry back a wounded soldier, and was himself shot dead. 
By this time each detachment was surrounded by mad- 
dened Indians, but maintained their positions until daylight, 
when reinforcements arrived from the fort, and at 8 o'clock 
the defeated troops reached their quarters. Eighteen had 
been killed, three taken prisoners, and 38 wounded. The 
Indians mutilated the body of Capt. Dalzell and left it where 
he fell. It was brought to the fort by a son of Jacques 
Campeau, and buried in the "King's Garden/' within the 
fort. Parent's Creek was ever after called "Bloody Run." 

In 1772 Jacques Campeau sent the following petition "To 
the King's Most Excellent Majesty": 

"In the year 1763, when the different nations of savages 
had attacked the fort of Detroit, commanded by Col. Glad- 
well (Gladwin), and your majesty's troops there had sallied 
out against them, but being few in number were constrained 
to retreat, your petitioner very cordially received 250 of 
them into his house, who were unable to reach the fort, and 
from whence they fought against the savages some time, 
when your petitioner, his wife and family, administered to 
them all the comfort his dwelling could afford, nevertheless 
and notwithstanding your majesty's orders to the contrary, 
your petitioner's house was plundered of effects to the value 
of $300; that after that disaster had subsided your petitioner 
applied to Col. Gladwell for a pecuniary recompense for 
the injury he had suffered in his property, who most equit- 
ably ordered a court martial to inquire into the amount of 



122 



your petitioner's losses, which upon a fair inquiry, they 
reported at $300, as by the papers remaining in your 
majesty's archives at Detroit, fully appears, but your peti- 
tioner, notwithstanding such inquiry and report has not 
been paid any part of it, but still remains altogether unindem- 
nified." 



JOHN FRANCIS HAMTRAMCK. 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

When his distinguished rank and military services are 
considered, and especially the fact that after fighting in the 
war of the Revolution to aid the colonies to win their inde- 
pendence, and that, this accomplished, the remaining 20 
years of his life were given to the northwest, fighting Indians 
with Gen. Wayne until the departure of the British from 
the line of forts stretching from Erie to the Straits of Mack- 
inac, compelled them to leave the warpath and sue for peace, 
and then taking command of the fortifications here, making 
a home here on the banks of the river, remarkably little is 
known of the private life of John Francis Hamtramck. 

Appleton's Encyclopaedia says he was born in Canada in 
1757, but does not give the date nor the place. As a 
youth it takes him over into the state of New York, and 
makes him a soldier in Dubois' regiment. 

The late Robert E. Roberts, in his little history of Detroit, 
published in 1863, says that Hamtramck was one of the 
gallant French youths who came to this country with Gen. 
Lafayette, and served on his staff. 

123 



Roberts came here about 20 years after the death of 
Hamtramck, at a time when, and for years afterwards, there 
were scores of prominent citizens who had known the gal- 
lant officer personally, and beyond doubt he gained his 
information from them. Moreover, Roberts was a careful 
and accurate writer, who would not have spoken with posi- 
tiveness had he been uncertain of his facts. 

Both agree that Hamtramck served in the American army 
with distinction, and continued in the service as long as 
there was any fighting to be done for the struggling states. 
On the 29th of September, 1789, he was appointed a major 
of infantry. February 18, 1793, he was made a lieutenant- 
colonel and placed in command of the first sub-legion. He 
led the left wing of Wayne's army at the battle on the Miami, 
August 20, 1794, and was distinguished for his bravery. 

He remained with Wayne's army, keeping the Indians 
in subjection by striking them heavily whenever they went 
on the warpath, and was placed in command of Fort Wayne 
October 22, 1794. When word was received in May, 1796, 
that the British were about to evacuate the posts they then 
held within the territory of the United States, Col. Ham- 
tramck went down the Maumee to Camp Deposit and 
remained there until the 21st of June. A few days later 
the British surrendered Fort Miamis, and Hamtramck was 
there when he received orders to proceed to Detroit and 
take possession of Fort Lernoult. 



124 



Sacred 
to the Memory of 
John Francis Hamtramck Esq., 
Colonel of the U States Regiment of inf-ty, 
and 
Commandant of 
Detroit and its Dependencies 
He departed this life on the n tJl of Ap' 1803 
Aged 45 Years, 7 Months, 6 28 days 
True Patriotism, 
And a zealous Attachment to rational Liberty 
Joined to a laudable Ambition, 
led him into Military Service at an early 
period of his life, 
He was a Soldier even before he was a man; 
He was an active participator 
in all the Dangers, Difficulties and Honors 
of the Revolutionary War; 
And his Heroism and uniform good conduct 
procured him the Attentions 6 Personal Thanks of 
the Immortal Washington. 
The United States in him have lost 
a Valuable Officer 6 a Good Citizen, 
And Society an Useful 6 Pleasant Member; 
to his Family the Loss is incalculable; 
And his Friends will never forget 
the memory of Hamtramck 
this humble Monument is placed over 

his Remains 
by the Officers who had the Honor 

to serve under his command. 
A small, but grateful Tribute to 
his Merit 

and 
his Worth. 

INSCRIPTION ON HAMTRAMCK'S TOMB. 



He had insufficient means for transportation, but July 7 
two small vessels arrived from Detroit, and Hamtramck 
immediately hurried on board a detachment of infantry 
and artillery, 65 men in all, under the command of Capt. 
Moses Porter, a few cannon, ammunition and stores, and 
dispatched them with orders to take possession of Detroit 
and the fort and hold them until his arrival. Two days 
later he had procured a sloop of 50 tons, loaded it with 
flour, quartermasters' stores, ordnance and ammunition, 
and leaving Capt. Marschalk, Lieut. Shanklin and 52 
infantry, a corporal and six artillery, in command of Fort 
Miamis, embarked on the sloop and 1 1 bateaux for Detroit, 
his troops numbering about 250. 

Eight days later he wrote to Gen. Wilkinson from Detroit 
that the British evacuated on the nth, and Capt. Porter 
took possession. Hamtramck and his command arrived on 
the 13th. "Mad Anthony'' Wayne arrived about a month 
later, remained here until the middle of November, went 
to Presqu' He, now Erie, and died there December 14. 

Col. Hamtramck remained at Fort Shelby, as it was now 
called, until April n, 1803, the date of his death. His 
remains were interred in the burial ground adjoining Ste. 
Anne's church, in the square bounded by Earned, Congress, 
Bates and Randolph streets, and there reposed until about 
30 years ago>, when they were removed to Mt. Elliott. 



(Note. — John Francis Hamtramck (or Hamtrenck) was a son of 
Charles David Hamtrenck and Marie Ann Bertin, and was born at 
Quebec August 16, 1756. His father, Charles David Hamtrenck dit 
L'Allemand was a barber and a son of David Hamtrenck and Adele 
Garnik of Luxembourg, diocese of Treves, Germany, and he married 
Marie Anne Bertin at Quebec, November 26, 1753.) — C. M B. 

126 



The letter and record book of the colonel for the period 
he was stationed here is still in existence, but is a highly- 
prized possession of a family at Dayton, O. It was in 
the garrison when Hull made his cowardly surrender in 
1812, and was taken away by an officer of Ohio militia 
among his personal effects. 



ILE AUX COCHONS. 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896,) 

Earliest Name of our Beautiful Park in Detroit River. 

The possession of the He aux Cochons, now our own 
Belle Isle, was longer in dispute than Detroit. Cadillac 
granted it to the early settlers as a common, but nobody 
claimed any property rights in the island until about the 
year 1753. 

Lieut. George McDougall, of his majesty's Sixtieth Regi- 
ment, had been a faithful officer, and about the year named 
was given a grant to the island by George III. and the 
council. He took possession, erected buildings, and cleared 
a portion of the land. Meantime two other residents of 
Detroit had applied to the crown for a grant of the island, 
but their applications had been rejected. 

Ever since the grant of Cadillac the island had been 
common grazing ground, and after a time protest was made 
against the possession by McDougall. Sir Guy Carleton, 
writing to Lord Hillsborough from Quebec, July 8, T760, 
says: 



127 



"The grants and papers have not yet been found among 
the public records here. It is a matter of doubt whether the 
right of common was ever given them by any formal 
instrument, but a fact well known, and ascertained by many 
persons of credit and reputation in the province, is that the 
He aux Cochons was granted about the year 1753., which 
grant was afterwards revoked upon the representations of 
the inhabitants of Detroit that this island was absolutely 
necessary for them to receive their cattle in summer to 
avoid the running wild in the woods, or the Indians destroy- 
ing them in any of their drunken Frolicks. 

"As it would appear the grant to Mr. McDougall was 
immediately from His Majesty, I thought it right to give 
your Lordship the earliest information of what has come to 
my knowledge about that matter." 



The protest bears the names of many old French settlers, 
the descendants of whom are prominent in the Detroit of 
today, though in some instances the orthography has been 
slightly changed: Denoye, Miloche, Oulette, Lesperanee, 
Langlois, Derouillard, Delisle, Dequindre, Labrosse, Chapo- 
ton. The Campeau family was represented by Jacques, 
Louis, Simmonet and Baptiste, pere and fils. 

In the following May, McDougall wrote to the earl of 
Hillsborough : "By a paragraph of a letter from the Hon'ble 
Major.-Gen. Thomas Gage, commander in chief of his 
majesty's forces in North America, to the Hon'ble Major 
Thomas Bruce, of the 60th regt, commanding at this post, 
I understand that his excellency has given it as his opinion 
that the grant given me of Hogg Island by his majesty and 

128 



council, referred to and confirmed by the express orders 
of the commander in chief in a letter to Captain Turnbull, 
then commanding at the fort, that I should, in consequence 
of an ill-supported claim made by some inhabitants of this 
place to said island as a common, give up my right and 
property to be decided by arbitration. I hope your lord- 
ship will be good enough to excuse me for declining to 
leave what I think my property, with the improvements 
thereto, agreeable to the tennor of my grant to such a 
decision. 

"My lord, from your well known abilities to distribute 
strict justice to every subject within the limits of your admin- 
istration, I have great reason to hope my past service and 
the justice of my cause, may in some degree entitle me to 
your lordship's protection." 



McDougall sent with this letter a memorial, setting forth 
that the grant was coupled with the provisos that the transfer 
to McDougall must not give umbrage to the Indians, and 
that the improvements made by McDougall at the island 
be "applied to the more effectual and easy supply of His 
Majesty's fort and garrison at Detroit." 

McDougall says he was aware that no absolute grant 
could be given, because Detroit was outside the boundary 
line laid down by his majesty and parliament in 1763, but 
he was contented to accept of an order of the council, judg- 
ing it equally good as a real deed. 

His majesty referred the matter to the commander-in-chief 
at Detroit, and told him to put McDougall in possession of 
the island or not, as he judged equitable. The commandant 



129 



decided in favor of McDougall, and he entered into pos- 
session of the island. 

To clear away the clouds upon his title, McDougall, on 
May 4, 1769, called the Indians together in council in the 
presence of all the officers of the garrision, "at which time 
he received a solemn deed for the said island, which cost 
him very considerably both in presents and provisions." 

McDougall declares that when Col. Gladwin was in com- 
mand, 1762-4, the inhabitants never pretended to have the 
least title or claim to the island, and it was Gladwin's "pub- 
lick orders that no cattle should be put upon the island 
without his liberty, nor should anyone cut wood or hay on 
the island on any pretense whatever." This order was con- 
tinued in force by Col. Campbell, who succeeded Gladwin. 



Attached to the memorial was the following Indian deed, 
executed in the presence of witnesses at the council at the 
fort: 

"This indenture made by and between Lieutenant George 
MacDougall, late of the 60 Regiment of the one part, and 
Oketckewand'ng, Conthawyin, Ottowatchkin, chiefs of the 
Ottawas and Chippewa nations of Indians, of the other 
part, do for ourselves and by the consent of the whole nation 
of Indians, witnesseth the said chiefs for and in consider- 
ation of five barrels of rum, three roles of tobacco, three 
pounds of vermillion and a belt of wampum, and three 
barrels of rum and three pounds of paint when possession 
was taken, valued 194 pounds 10 shillings, current money 
of the province of New York, to them in hand paid, the 



receipt whereof the said Indian chiefs doth hereby acknowl- 
edge, hath granted, bargained, sold, alienated and confirmed, 
and by these presents do hereby grant, bargain, sell, alien 
and confirm unto the said George MacDougall, his heirs 
and assigns forever the aforesaid island, that he may settle, 
cultivate or otherwise employ it to his majesty's advantage, 
as he shall think proper, the aforesaid island in the Detroit 
River, about three miles above the fort, together with all 
houses, out houses, appurtenances whatsoever on the said 
island, messuage or tenement and premises belonging or in 
any way appertaining, and also the reversion and reversions, 
remainder and remainders, rents and services of the said 
premises and every part thereof and all estate, right, title, 
claim and demand whatsoever, of them, the said Indians, 
of, in and to the said messuage and tenement and premises 
and every part thereof, to have and to hold the said mes- 
suage or tenement and all and singular the said premises 
above mentioned and every part and parcel thereof with 
the appurtenances unto the said George MacDougall, his 
heirs and assigns forever, and we, the above mentioned 
chiefs, do hereby engage ourselves, our heirs, our nations, 
executors, administrators and assigns forever to warrant 
and defend the property of the said island unto the said 
George MacDougall, his heirs, executors, administrators, 
and assigns forever against us or any person whatsoever 
claiming any right or title thereto." 



This document was probably understood by the chiefs 
and those they represented to the extent of the consideration 
in rum and tobacco, but they traced their totems at the 



J 3i 



bottom. An effort to determine the species of the animals 
they undertook to draw forces the conclusion that they 
were inexperienced in the totem business or had been 
sampling the consideration. 

Lord Hillsborough forwarded the memorial and deed 
to George III. and his council, but it probably got into a 
pigeonhole, for nothing more was heard of them. It is 
possible that George hinted to Lieut.-Gov. Hamilton that 
McDougall was to be given the dead state, for August 12, 
1778, he wrote to Lieut.-Gov. Cramahe in relation to the 
Hog Island papers, and said: 

"If Capt. McDougall should prosecute his pretensions in 
the courts, I want you to produce the claims of the inhabi- 
tants, which in my humble opinion are sufficient to support 
their title. An island being a royalty if it has ever been 
granted from the crown as a common, I apprehend the 
inhabitants have no power to surrender that right, as their 
posterity would thereby be injured past redress," 

September 5, 1780, Maj. DePeyster, then the command- 
ant at Detroit, had Nathan Williams and Jean Baptiste 
Crainte, able master carpenters, appraise the buildings Mc- 
Dougall had erected on the island, and then dispossessed 
him. The appraisers reported as follows: 

One dwelling house £250 

One do do 40 

One do do 10 

An old barn without a top 18 

A fowl house l 6 

Some timber 10 

Total .-..,, *334 

132 



A month later De Peyster wrote to Gen. Haldimand that 
he had obeyed orders and placed loyalists upon Hog Island, 
and added: "The island is, however, sufficient for two 
substantial families only, there being" much meadow ground 
and swamp on it, and being absolutely necessary to preserve 




a run for the king's cattle, being the only place of security. 
I have sent your excellency a sketch of the island, which is 
only 768 acres. If I had placed more families there it would 
have augmented the expenses, and not have been cultivated 
so much to the advantage of the government. '' 

McDougall's heirs, however, got possession again in 
1784. Peace had been declared, and Lieut-Gov. Hay 
saw a fine opportunity to be inexpensibly generous and 



*33 



magnanimously just. He was confident that when the 
boundary line was drawn Hog Island would be a portion 
of the United States, so he turned the disputed territory 
over to George and John Robert McDougall, sons of the 
old veteran lieutenant of his majesty's 24th. 

November 11, 1793, the latter sold his undivided half of 
the island to William Macomb for 818 pounds and 16 shil- 
lings, and April 7 following Macomb bought the other 
half for Jj6 pounds. Macomb died in 1796, and bequeathed 
the island to his sons, John, William and David. When 
Detroit was evacuated by the British and the island came 
under the government of congress, all of the old claims, 
Indian, French and English, were ignored and the title 
confirmed to the Macombs. The shares of John and Wil- 
liam passed to their brother, and March 3, 181 7, David B. 
Macomb deeded the island to Barnabas Campau for $5,000. 
The remainder of the history of the He aux Cochons is 
uneventful and modern. 



i34 



THE FIRST EDITOR HERE WAS FATHER GABRIEL 
RICHARD, THE PASTOR OF STE, ANNE'S, 




FATHER GABRIEL RICHARD. 
From a Cut in Possession of C. M. Burton. 

Detroit's first editor was Father Gabriel Richard, the 
Catholic priest, the pastor of Ste. Anne's church. 

After an interval of 60 years, Fr. Richard peers out of 
his picture grim and ancient, standing beside holy candles. 



*35 



Thin and cadaverous, well he might be, for the life he led 
would have killed a horse. 

The first newspaper printed in Detroit, or, indeed, west 
of the Alleghenies, dates back to the year 1809, the first 
page of which is here reproduced. It was only with great 
pains that the Journal was enabled to> find a copy of this 
rare paper. It is known that there are only four copies 
of Father Richard's paper in existence, one of which is sup- 
posed to be in a museum or library at Worcester, Mass., 
while the other three are widely scattered. There is a copy 
in the hands of Mr. H. E. Baker and Mr. James H. Stone, 
the veteran editors, who own it jointly, and who long ago 
decided, when they are done with it, to deposit it in the 
Detroit Public Library. But in the meantime they value it 
as rubies. It is framed and kept under a glass, and the 
inflexible rule is to allow no copies or tracings to be made. 

The "Essay" is a peculiar looking thing, for a newspaper, 
to modern eyes. It has the appearance of an opera house 
program or some such trifle as that. It is only four columns 
wide and is written in old-fashioned script type, the kind 
with the long "s," such as the modern reader is always 
mistaking for a letter "f." 

The paper contains only one column of advertising, and 
that refers to books of the printing establishment, and was 
of course inserted without pay. The revenue was, then, 
to be derived from the subscription list solely. There is 
not a personal item in the paper, and scarcely a piece of 
news, in the modern acceptation of the term. There are 
a few paragraphs, clipped from other papers east, purporting 
to be news from the old world, but are just 67 days old. 

136 



There are a few scraps from New York, but they are not 
of great or exciting interest. The remainder of the paper 
consists of pious reflections and philosophic moralizings 
on such themes as "Happiness," "The Portrait of a True 
Friend/' "Character/' and such topics. The only item 
written for home use, apparently, is one which tells that 
the girls' school, of Ste. Anne's, is about to open, and parents 
are urged to send their girls to school. Some of the articles 
in the paper are written in French. 

Father Richard was born October 15, 1764. His father 
was a gentleman of distinction, and his mother learned. He 
received ecclesiastical orders in 1790. He left France on 
account of the Revolution, and first settled in Baltimore. 
In due course he was called as a missionary, and visited 
the remote northwestern frontiers, until 1798, when he came 
to Detroit and founded the present church of Ste. Anne. 

While on a visit to Boston, 1809, he bought a printing 
press and some type and published the first paper printed 
west of the Allegheny Mountains, the first number appear- 
ing August 31, 1809, called the "Michigan Essay, or Impar- 
tial Observer." The same year he published the first prayer 
book. Several numbers of the "Essay" were printed, but 
the population being scattered he thought best to suspend 
publication, there being no way to circulate the paper. All 
the printing was executed under his personal supervision. 

The "Essay'' was compose'd of four columns to a page 
9 J by 10 inches in size. There are only four copies in 
existence. Some accounts say that Father Richard brought 
his press overland from Baltimore. Among the religious 
books printed were: La Journale du Chretien, 181 1 ; Epistle 

137 



and Gospel for Sundays and Holidays, 1812; a catechism. 
The press of Father Richard was subsequently used for 
printing deeds for the governor and judges of the territory, 
and when the English took possession they had Brock's 
proclamation printed on this press, it being the only estab- 
lishment of this kind in the northwest. 

The office of the ''Essay" was removed after June 11, 1805, 
the day of the big Detroit fire, to Springwells, upon what 
was later a part of the Stanton farm. One part of the house 
was used to live in, another part was for the chapel, another 
for the printing office, and still another for the school.* 

Father Richard's advocacy of American principles, 181 2, 
and his denunciation of the British, excited great indig- 
nation in Canada, and he was soon afterwards seized and 
imprisoned at Sandwich, and was held captive until the 
close of the war, but during the interval was allowed to 
labor among the Indians. On his return to Michigan he 
found the people in great destitution, and went about col- 
lecting money and food in their behalf. In 1823 he was 
elected delegate to congress, being the first Roman Catholic 
priest to receive that honor. He won the esteem of the 
members, notably Henry Clay, who, when the abbe did 
not make his meaning clear, because of his defective use of 
English, frequently repeated his arguments to the house. 
He was defeated for re-election in 1826, and afterwards 
applied himself to works of piety and patriotism, built Indian 
schools at Green Bay, Arbre Croche, and St. Joseph's. He 
studied Sicard's method of teaching the deaf and dumb and 
delivered lectures. In 1832 he projected the foundation 
of a college. During the prevalence of the cholera Father 



*The writer is in error. The printing press was not brought to 
Detroit until several years after the fire of 1805.— [C. M. B. 

138 



Richard was almost constantly on his feet day and night, 
until he was prostrated by disease, September 9, and died 
September 13, 1832. 



Father Richard's introduction to the people is brief and 
to the point. He hopes to fulfil a long-felt want. He says : 

THE ESSAY, 

Detroit, August 31, 1809. 
The Public are respectfully informed that THE ESSAY 
will be conducted in the utmost impartiality* that it will 
not espouse any political party; but fairly and candidly 
communicate whatever may be deemed worthy of insertion 
— whether Foreign, Domestic or Social. 
* * * A noble aim be ours, 
To mend the heart, to raise the pow'rs, 
To show the world, on one extensive plan 
All that is good and great and dear to man; 
The patriot's plans and councils to display, 
To point where glory shapes the warrior's way, 
And as fresh wonders burst from every clime, 
To mark the unfoldings of eventful Time, 
That while our youth, with sparkling eyes shall read, 
How heroes conquer, or more nobly bleed, 
Their infant souls may catch the sacred flame 
And join their country's love to that of Fame. 
Gentlemen of talents are invited to contribute to our 
columns, whatever they suppose will be acceptable and 
beneficial — yet always remembering that nothing of a cor- 
rosive nature will be admitted. THE PUBLISHER. 



139 



Father Richard had a "funny" department in his paper, 
under a big headline, thus: 

HUMOROUS. 

Count Tracey, complaining to Foote that a man had 
ruined his character, "So much the better," replied the wit, 
"it was a d — n bad one, and the sooner destroyed the better." 



A mortal fever once prevailed upon a ship at sea; and a 
negro fellow was appointed to throw overboard the bodies 
of those who died, from time to time. One day, when 
the captain was on deck, he saw the negro dragging out 
of the forecastle the body of a sick man, who was struggling 
violently to* free himself from the negro's grasp, and remon- 
strating against the cruelty of burying him alive. "What 
are you going to do with that man, you black d — 1," said 
the captain, "don't you see that he moves and speaks?" 
"Why, yes, massa," replied the negro. "I know he say 
he no dead, but he always lie so like h — 1, nobody nebber 
knows when to blieve him." 



The "Essay" has its poet's corner, the word POETRY 
enscrolled in an attractive wreath of flowers. As usual, 
there is the big black headline, thus : 



140 



POETICAL. 

(Written in the Country.) 
The eve's in dusty mantle dres'd 
The day's last gleam just streaks the west 
Till slowly sinking from the hills 
A deepening shade the prospect fills. 

No sound to strike the ear doth move 
From rural pipe or vocal grove, 
The flocks and herds to rest are gone, 
The hamlet's wonted sports are done. 

The gathering clouds now close arrange 
As waiting for the coming change 
Till Luna and her train in sight 
The sober evening yields to light. 

OH HAPPINESS, 

Oh, Happiness! where is thy resort? 

Amidst the splendor of a court? 

Or dost thou more delight to dwell 

With humble hermit in his cell, 

In search of truth? or doth thou rove 

Thro Plato's academic grove? 

Or else with Epicurus gay 

Laugh at the farces mortals play? 

Or with the graces doth thou lead 

The sportive dance along the mead? 

Or in Bellona's bloody car 

Exult amid the scenes of war? 

No more I'll search, no more Til mind thee, 

Fair Fugitive — I cannot find thee! 

OMAR. 
141 



Among the miscellany, under bold headlines, is the fol 
lowing: 

TRUE POLITENESS, 

It is an evenness of soul, that excludes at the same time 
insensibility and too much earnestness — it supposes a quick 
discernment of the different characters, tempers, miseries, 
or perfections of mankind; and by a sweet condescension, 
adapts itself to each man's case. * * * 

HAPPINESS -A FRAGMENT. 

The scenes of my life have been sad, said a poor French- 
man, who had scrambled up one of the most precipitous 
mountains of North Wales and was now pensively leaning 
upon his stick and lending a mournful look toward a wide 
expanse of waters, which bounded his prospect. "The 
scenes of my life have been sad," silently repeated he, and 
a tear stole softly down his cheek, as the painful recollec- 
tion of the past struck his soul — I have pursued the bubble, 
Happiness, all over the world, and have lived but to find 
it a delusion, a phantom of the brain. I have suffered the 
tortures of the inquisition, in Spain — I have been chained 
to the galleys in Italy — I have starved on the mountains of 
Switzerland — have languished beneath the Republican 
tyranny of France — and lastly, have been whipped as a. 
vagabond, in England. 

* * * Beneath the wide spreading branches, he con- 
structed a simple hut; his meat was supplied by the roots 
and herbs of the valley; and the crystal spring, which 



142 



bubbled by his dwelling, afforded him a wholesome bever- 
age. Every evening beheld him sinking blissfully to repose 
on his bed of leaves; and every dawning day saw him rise 
refreshed and cheerful. In a short time he discovered that 
he was happy. * * * After musing some time on the 
strangeness of the fact he found that the miseries of his 
past life were to be imputed to himself; that they arose from 
his own restlessness and ambition ; — and that the true phil- 
osopher's stone, which converts everything it touches into 
gold, the real source of all human happiness is — content- 
ment. 



HUSBANDRY. 

A receipt to keep cattle healthy by rubbing tar at the 
root of the horn. 



A WANDERER'S COMPLAINT, 

A brief article dealing with one who is equally restless 
everywhere. 



EARLY RISING, 

Anecdote telling how Buffon was pulled out of bed by 
his servant, Joseph, in order to learn the value of time. 



43 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

A sentimental article called "The Portrait of a Real 
Friend." 



MARKET REPORTS, 



Rice, 7 dos 60 cts per cwt. 
Logwood, $12.50 do. 
Fustick, $9.60 do. 
Coffee, 45@53 cts do. 
Pimento, 43 cts do. 
Pepper, 30 cts do. 
Sugar, muscovado, 24(0)25 do. 
Clayed, do 30(0)32 do. 



Father Richard did not do a big advertising business, nor 
does he state the sworn paid circulation. -His only "ads" 
are these: 

At the Detroit Printing Office. 

Pious Guide. 

Perrin's French Grammar. 

Book of Tales (66 engravings) 3 vols. 

Columbian Orator. 

Chambeau's French Grammar. 

Wakefield's Family Tour Thro' Great Britain. 

Way to Wealth, Dr. Franklin. 



144 



Youthful Recreations. 

Youthful Sports. 

Simple Stories. 

English and French Catechisms. 

Moral Fables. 

Philadelphia Primer. 

Footsteps in Natural History of Beasts. 

Familiar Lessons. 

Road to Learning. 

Portraits of Curious Characters. 

Jack of All Trades. 

Father's Gift. 

Letters From London. 

True Piety. 

Garden of the Soul. 

Following Christ. 

A Papist Misrepresented. 

Geographical Cards. 

Vade Mecum, Etc., Etc. 



45 



ACROSS THE RIVER, 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 




INDIAN STONE IMAGES. 

Historic facts associated with the primitive town iof Sand- 
wich are fast fading into oblivion, because Canadian histori- 
ans have failed to perpetuate them. Attentive only to strong 
strategic points as Quebec, Kingston and Little York, 
historians failed to give the only town of any importance 
in western Canada at the time the British evacuated Detroit 
any place on the pages of history. Instead of delving into 
musty documents for records of a century and a half ago 
they must be learned from the oldest residents whose grand- 
mothers told them of the events. 



146 



The principal settlements along the Canadian frontier ioo 
years ago were from Sandwich westward to where the 
Detroit River empties into Lake Erie. Like nearly all 
Canada at that time, the French nationality predominated 
and the religion was Roman Catholic. That is why Can- 
ada did not join in the war for independence, because it 
preferred to be ruled by Protestant England, many thousand 
miles away, than by Protestant United States so near at 
hand. Without the discharge of a Canadian musket Can- 
ada got great good from the war of independence, because 
Great Britain, instead of ruling her with a hand of iron, as 
she was proceeding to do after the conquest of Canada, 
was forced to grant her many concessions to keep her from 
joining in the war for independence. Had Canadians been 
allowed the making of their own country, there would 
have been no Windsor, and Sandwich would have been the 
city of Western Canada; but Detroit's growth drew Can- 
adians to the point opposite her. Windsor then grew into 
existence and grew when Detroit grew. 



In 1775 Sandwich was the trading post in western Canada 
for the Hudson Bay Company. When the peace negoti- 
ations which succeeded the Revolutionary war were com- 
pleted and Michigan was ceded by the British to the United 
States, many persons who stubbornly maintained allegiance 
to King George moved across the river and settled along 
the frontier from Sandwich to Maiden. It was then that 
Sandwich was made the seat of government for the western 
district, composed of Essex, Kent and Lambton counties. 
The town was a shipping point. All settlers were along 

*47 



the river and used it as a waterway in the absence of pass- 
able roads. The settler's abode was a log hut or shanty, 
often built in a small clearing in the heart of the forest, 
and covered with bark or boughs. The nearest mill for 
grinding grain was 40 miles away, where Chatham now 
is. That there was little or no money was shown by the 
fact that a man would often carry a bushel of corn 40 miles 
to be ground, and then let the miller take his toll out of 
it instead of paying him; and so he had to carry the amount 
he gave in toll 40 miles for nothing. 

The settler could make his own flour by pounding the 
grain in the hollow of a hardwood stump or grinding it 
in a little steel mill provided by the government. The few 
roads in existence in the swampy land were "corduroy 
roads," many of which can yet be found. Clothing was 
home spun and furniture home made, as also were carts 
and sleds. 

"Logging bees" and "raisings" were held daily, and then 
distilled liquors were used in quantities. Once in a long 
time a preacher would visit the "sheep in the wilderness," 
and all the ceremonies required for a year would be done. 
Children would be baptized and marriages performed. 
There was no thought given to education when the settlers 
first located about Sandwich. The Jesuit fathers, principal 
among whom was Father La Salle, were the early spiritual 
advisers of the Catholics, and the Jesuits endured much 
privation to minister to the Indians. They settled at Sand- 
wich nearly 200 years ago. All along the Detroit River 
they planted French pear trees. There were thousands of 
them, and they grew to be three feet in diameter and 70 

148 



feet high, but there are now less than a score of the trees. 
They were emblems of the gospel and the cross; were 
nursed by the tender care of the fathers in wet moss and 
intermingled with the primeval forest on both sides of the 
river. The Jesuits built a nunnery at Sandwich, which 
is still standing, although it was built before the evacua- 
tion of Detroit. Later, under the impression that 
Sandwich would be the city of Canada west, the splen- 
did Catholic church and the celebrated L' Assumption col- 
lege were built. The Hudson Bay Company's building 
was the largest in those parts, being five stories high. Mc- 
intosh had a trading post above Walkerville ioo years ago, 
and McGregors and Babys were conducting general stores 
at Sandwich. The Askin family were also traders and 
military men of note. The Patterson family were traders 
at Petite Cote, below Sandwich. 



The dwelling around which cluster the most romantic 
associations is the Baby mansion on the river at Sandwich. 
Through its halls and corridors has sounded the voice of 
Gen. Brock, Gen. Proctor and of the forest heroes, Tecum- 
seh and Splitlog. Gen. Hull made it his headquarters in 
1 812, and a year later was a prisoner there. Gen. Harri- 
son, after the battle of the Thames, took possession of it 
and took Baby a prisoner. It was built over 100 years ago, 
and is now used as a boarding house. 

St. John's Episcopal church was built at Sandwich at 
the time of the evacuation. Richard Pollard, who was 
sheriff and registrar, officiated as pastor. Pollard had been 
sheriff and registrar at Detroit, but he was a loyalist. When 



149 



Detroit was evacuated such records as were necessary to 
the new settler, and which were kept at the Detroit offices 
of the sheriff and registrar, were duplicated and transferred 
to the Sandwich office. The court of assize was held once 
a year at Sandwich for the three counties, a territory of 
2,817 square miles. 

While the settlers on the Canadian side were French 
mainly, the business men were Scotch. A century ago 
there were 20,000 inhabitants in Canada, and in other parts 
of Canada the English and Scotch were the traders. Few 
of them were successful, because they had been accustomed 
to the comforts of the old land, and knew little about the 
ways of the new country. The U. E. Loyalists, when they 
crossed the border, were given grants of 200 acres each, 
and, being thrifty and used to privations, prospered. It 
was not until there were 2,200 people in Detroit that Wind- 
sor became a settlement. Then she began to draw from 
Sandwich and the west, and the firms of Cameron & McDon- 
ald, James Dougall, Blackadder & Brown, James Lambie, 
and the late John Curry, formed the business portion of 
the town. 

The only ferries then were two log canoes, run by Pierre 
St. Amour, who kept a hotel where Ouellette avenue and 
Sandwich street now are, and by Francis Labalaine. The 
price for the round trip was four times the cost that it is 
by ferry steamer now. 

The Ottawa Indians, whose chief was Pontiac, inhabited 
the Canadian side much of the time. Pontiac had slept in 
the Baby mansion as a guest. Their spear heads and arrow 7 
points of flint are often found along the river bank. G. R. 

150 



M. Pentland, of Peters street, Sandwich, has hundreds oi 
Indian relics. One of these is the head of a god whose 
mouth is open and eyes partly closed, in the act of blessing 
the Indians, and who was worshiped by the Indians then 
inhabiting Essex county. 

The first execution at Sandwich was over ioo years ago. 
A white man and a negro were gibbeted on the highway for 
murdering a girl in Kent county. 



THE FORT IN 1792. 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

There is no report upon the condition of the fortress at the 
time it became United States property, but it must have been 
in a sorry plight, and well nigh useless for defensive purposes. 
Possibly this is the reason why the residents said nothing 
about the acquisition in their letters. 

The last report upon its condition to be found in the Cana- 
dian archives is in series B, volume 60, page 228. It was 
made by Benjamin Fisher, Capt. Commanding, Royal En- 
gineers, in the fall of 1792, and is as follows: 

"Detroit: The principal services now executing at this 
place consist in such repairs, as are more immediately neces- 
sary to the officers' and soldiers' barracks; erecting a 
flagstaff, removing 12 platforms, and repairing 5 others 
in Fort Lernoult 

"With respect to such further services as may be neces- 
sary for the year 1793, it is not an easy matter for me to 
determine without knowing to what extent government 



^ 



may choose to go in re-establishing the post, or the 
importance in which it is viewed. 

"The decayed state of the buildings, and the insecurity 
of the defenses of the town from the ruinous condition of 
the blockhouses and picketing, has been already reported 
on by board of survey, and since more fully by Lieut. 
Pilkinton of the Royal Engineers. I shall therefore state 
generally the condition of the works and buildings in the 
fort, citadel, town and naval yard, accompanying the report 
with separate estimates, and submitting to better judgment 
the propriety of incurring so heavy an expense as appears 
requisite to reinstate the works and buildings of the post. 

"Fort Lernoult — The greater part of the interior slope 
of the ramparts requires fresh sodding, the magazine to 
be repaired, and the position of the entrance changed. The 
sheds for the fixed ammunition are bad, and from their 
proximity to other buildings and to the magazine, endanger 
the safety of the place in case of fire. A new one is, there- 
fore, proposed. New drip-board and several new water- 
spouts are wanting to the barracks. The sallyport is quite 
rotten, unsafe, and injurious to the health of men 
occasionally confined there; the main drain very offensive; 
the fraize and picketing in the ditch much decayed; the 
ditch requires in many parts to be cleaned, and the 
counterscarp repaired. The grate, bridge and abattis are 
good. The magazine contiguous to the fort wants some 
trifling repairs for its security, for it is to be apprehended 
from the whole tenor of the building that it will not be of 
long duration. 



152 



"Citadel: The barracks in general require plastering, 
whitewashing and repairs to the hearths and chimneys; 32 
new sashes are wanted, as also two additional ones for the 
hospital to give a freer communication of air. The barrack 
stores are mostly placed in the upper story of the men's 
barracks, as are also the artillery stores. The latter, from 
their great weight, not only render such a disposition very 
inconvenient, but endanger great the building, which is 
slight. The picketing of the citadel and woodyard is 
wholly decayed. 

"Town: The picketing on the water side is good, but 
from Fort Lernoult to the water on the east side is quite 
rotten, and in many places supported by props. The same 
on the w 7 est side, excepting the salient parts contiguous 
to the blockhouses. The blockhouses Nos. 1 and 2 are 
wholly decayed, and unsafe even to the removal of the 
cannon now in them. The water blockhouse is secure for 
the present, but not worthy of considerable repairs. West 
blockhouse may last some time with common repairs, but 
the one in the barrack yard, which at present serves as 
commissary and barrack master's stores, is quite decayed. 
These blockhouses are at present raised on upright frames 
12 feet high. If they are to be reinstated I should recom- 
mend an alteration in the construction, and that their lower 
frame might be converted into a storeroom or useful 
apartment, which would add but little to the expense. The 
east platform by the river is on too slight a frame to be 
secure, and the west platform is wholly rotten. This latter 
is commanded by a bank, which is an accumulation of 
rubbish from the town, and should be removed. The 



i53 



Indian store is so wholly decayed that any repairs would 
be injudicious. A frame building, 60 feet by 30, is recom- 
mended for the accommodation of Indian artillery and 
storekeeper general's stores. It may be, eligibly placed in 
the citadel behind the barracks. The weighty stores being 
in the lower part, frame work will be sufficient. The 
artillery carriages require painting. Twenty traveling 
magazines are wanting. Ladders and sentry boxes much 
wanted. 

"Naval yard: Is surrounded only by a slight picketing, 
and without the protection of the garrison. The naval 
storehouse is so completely decayed that props are fixed 
on all sides to prevent its falling. The building at present 
consists of two stories, and is 85 feet by 22. The lower 
story is the store, and the upper one a working place for 
riggers. Both places are sufficiently large for the purpose 
to which they are applied, but as a fire in winter is necessary 
for the riggers, I thought it advisable to have a detached 
building for them, and have estimated accordingly. This 
building is, I apprehend, so essentially necessary for the 
fitting out and repair of the vessels on the lakes that it 
is necessary it should be early attended to. If it is judged 
expedient to reconstruct the naval storehouse in the way 
proposed, I should recommend a deviation in the line of 
picketing, advancing at the same time the blockhouse No. 
2, for should it not inclose a more eligible spot for a dock- 
yard than at present occupied, it at least offers a secure 
and convenient situation for the naval buildings. 

"I have offered little more than is necessary for the 
re-establishing the works and buildings of the post. How 

i54 



far the present circumstances and situation of it render 
such a measure advisable is not for me to determine.'' 



THE OLD LANDMARKS. 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 
A retrospect of Detroit for the last hundred years properly 
includes recollections of the township of Springwells, the 
greater portion of which, territorially, has been absorbed 
into the city. 




DETROIT IN 1838. 
From an Engraving Owned by C. M. Burton. 

155 



Fifty years ago the western limits of Detroit were a little 
beyond Seventh street. The only highways open in that 
direction were the River road, the Chicago road, now 
called Michigan avenue, and the Grand River road. The 
chief thoroughfare was the River road, for the country 
back of that was principally forest. The heavy growth of 
timber, the clay soil, which held the accumulated rains 
and snows and the insufficient drainage retarded settlement. 
The flood of eastern people who came in the late '30s and 
the early '40s to make homes for themselves in Michigan, 
did not remain in Detroit, but made for the southern and 
central tiers of counties, where the land was easier cleared 
and the agricultural resources of the most magnificent 
promise. Between Detroit and Dearborn there were few 
improved farms, except upon the river front and along the 
borders of the Rouge. The old French preference for 
living near a water course was manifested by the newer 
immigrants if by that term we can designate the enlight- 
ened, adventurous and energetic sons and daughters of 
New England and New York who hurried to Michigan to 
lay the foundation of the young state. They made homes 
for themselves on the borders of the Rouge, the Ecorse, 
Raisin, Clinton, Huron, Grand, St. Joseph, Shiawassee, 
Huron, St. Clair and Saginaw Rivers. 

Fifty years ago the depot of the Michigan Central had 
freshly been removed from the Michigan avenue site of 
the city hall to its present location on the river at the foot 
of Third street. At this point emptied the River Savoyard, 
which had its source in a rivulet near where St. Mary's 
Catholic church now stands, at St. Antoine st. and Monroe 

156 



avenue. It meandered down toward Cadillac square, 
and the site of the new county buildings, where it broadened 
out into a lagoon. Water fowl and water snakes, the 
impetuous blue-racer among them, found a congenial 
habitat there. The Savoyard deepened and its current 
became more forceful as it approached the line of Woodward 
avenue. It is on record in Farmer's History that batteaux 
freighted with stone for old Ste. Anne's church, navigated 
to the comer of Bates and Congress, the present armory 
of the Light Infantry being erected on the grounds once 
confined within the church plot. We know that there was 
a bridge across the Savoyard at Griswold street, and that 
Levi E. Dolsen, an old citizen, well known in his generation, 
who died a year or two ago, fell from the bridge while 
fishing and was nearly drowned. 

In excavating a few years ago the foundation for Phelps, 
Brace & Co.'s and Lee & Cady's buildings, cannon balls 
and other military relics were, unearthed. They were 
souvenirs of the British occupation, and the cannon balls 
may have been aimed at Pontiac's red horde of savages. 

The waters of the Savoyard began to be intercepted and 
led off by sewers 50 years ago, the stream dwindled and 
was filled up, and when the new Michigan Central station 
was constructed its last vestiges disappeared. Last fall, in 
constructing a building opposite the Wayne Hotel on River 
street, the hull of a small craft was unearthed, which no 
doubt was left to decay in the shallow Savoyard. 

A walk down the River road in those days would have 
taken the pedestrian along a tolerably high bank which 
faced the street from Fifth street to Eighth. This walk 



157 



was guarded by a hand rail. From its elevation one could 
see the new city gas works, then just put in operation. 
The ruined old building now belongs to Frederick Stearns 
and is used as a marble and stone shop. The young firm 
of Jackson & Wiley had a foundry nearly opposite that 
was worked to its limit night and day. The railroad com- 
pany had a peculiar machine which turned out from billets 
of wood oblong oval wedges that were used to make firm 
the joints of the T rails, then newly used — the antecedent 
of the fish plate. There was a car shop of considerable 
dimensions along the side of the street, and by an hydraulic 
machine, attended by Bijah Joy, of subsequent fame as a 
policeman who passed "an hour at the central station'' every 
day. By means of this machine car wheels were forced 
upon their axles. Next was the railroad machine and black- 
smith shop, and round house, made significant by what 
was said to be the tallest chimney in America, only exceeded 
in height by the St. Rollux chimney at Glasgow, Scotland. 
This chimney and busy shops, for which it once produced 
the desired air drafts, were long ago demolished. 

The railroad track struck the river at the mouth of May's 
Creek, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets, but before 
coming to it one passed the farms of John Mullett, the 
old-time surveyor, and Gov. Woodbridge. Mullett and 
Woodbridge lived in old-style French mansions. A part 
of the Mullett residence still stands back of the Hammond 
Beef Company's warehouse. Next was that of John S. 



'5» 



Abbott and Henry T. Backus, sons-in-law of Gov. Wood- 
bridge. Magnificent French pear trees were the surround- 
ings of each of these dwellings, and of every other dwelling 
on the river front. 

The railroad track, when it reached the river, was car- 
ried by trestle work over the shallows up to the channel 
bank, and thence in a straight line to Third street. There 
was at first but a single track, and the trains as they passed 
over it reverberated loudly. The water inclosure formed 
by the trestle reached from Fifth to Eleventh street. The 
early formations of ice were protected by the closely driven 
piles and thereby made the space into a skating park that 
was much besought by the youth of the city. 

A bridge carried the road over May's Creek, just west 
of Woodbridge's mansion. The rest of the way, except 
from Fourteenth street to Twenty-fourth, the highway fol- 
lowed the margin of the river. The first reach of the river 
was a sort of rendezvous for scows and small sail craft. 
There was a couple of taverns of some note — one kept by 
Thomas Lyon, an eccentric Englishman, formerly a soldier, 
whose wife, a buxom lady, was a typical old-time landlady. 
The other was kept by Louis Specht, a 1 German from the 
region of the upper Rhine, whose knowledge of the French 
language made him congenial to the sailors and fanners 
below. Saw mills were just erected in this district, one 
by Selah Reeve, the other by Bela Hubbard, and John E. 
King. There were tanneries also, one of them superin- 
tended by the Levi E. Dolsen named above. 



T 59 



Another small stream crossed the highway just below 
the Godfrey mansion. Vestiges of this stream are apparent 
today south of Fort street in front of Peter Henkel's house. 
The River road then kept inland. It passed the home 
of William Burtchell — generally called Billy — a noted 
steamboat runner. On the front of the Loranger farm, now 
known as the Lafontaine farm, was an extensive fishery, 
perhaps the best on the river. Old Jean Baptiste Loranger 
had a merry crew of French fishermen, who sang as they 
rowed out to cast their nets, and gave exultant Gallic 
shouts when the catch warranted such enthusiasm. They 
lived in shanties on the river's edge. Fish, potatoes, bread, 
pork and beans were the staple articles on the bill of fare, 
and the hungry stranger was always invited to sit with 
them at the feast. Whiskey was 15 cents a gallon, and 
probably the dampness of their occupation caused them to 
take more of it than was good for them. 

Continuing on, the wayfarer came to the residence of 
Maj. Henry Brevoort, a veteran of Perry's victory and other 
campaigns of 1 81 2. Maj. Brevoort had a French pony 
and a low hung buggy, covenient for a man of his stature 
and portliness. Every day he would drive up to the city 
to call upon friends. It was a tradition of the neighbor- 
hood that he received a silver dollar — "the dollar of the 
daddies" — every time he went to town, in the way of pay- 
ment on his pension. This, of course, is not the way 
pensions are paid, but the story was told that he collected 
his dollar every day. 

Passing beyond Brevoort's, the River road ran to the 
edge of a high, steep bank, exactly like the bank to be seen 

j6q 



today on the Windsor side of the river. It started from 
about where the Detroit Gas Works are now located and 
continued past Twenty-fourth street. There was a sort of 
bay here, the water being so shallow that boys seeking 




ml>« 






the place to bathe could wade out 200 feet before getting 
beyond their depth. Some vestiges of the bank remain. 
The old brick mansion of Gov. Porter, occupied in recent 
times by the late Sylvester Larned, stood uninhabited on 
this high bank, commanding a grand view of the river. 
Another bit of neighborhood gossip, told in whispers by 



l6l 



the French lads who lived thereabout — C. Peter Lafferty 
and Samuel Campau will remember about it — was a story 
that the house was haunted. 




AN OLD FRENCH HOUSE ON THE ROUGE. 

The road was graded down from the bank to the river 
level, and at the foot of the hill stood the Eagle tavern, 
celebrated as the headquarters for a day and a night of 
Gen. William Henry Harrison, who brought his army up 
this way to take possession of the city after the British 
forces, subsequent to 1812 and Perry's victory, had 
vacated it. 

Continuing on, the fishing grounds of James Harper, who 
had married the widow of Jean Baptiste Campau, was a 
conspicuous feature, especially during the whitefish season. 
Knaggs' Creek, lined with cattails, bullrushes, water lilies, 
and muskrat houses, emptied into the river just below. 
Some years later Lewis Ives dammed up the stream, exca- 
vated its channel, built a pier and converted the bed of 



162 



Knaggs' Creek into a drydock, the first on the great lakes 
The remains of Ives' dock are still to be seen. 

Here stood for many years the last of the old wind- 
mills on the river bank. Farmer's History gives a picture 
of it. 




THE WINDMILL IN 1838. 

Lower down, about where Edward Campau used to live, 
or rather on the site of Clark's drydock, was another fish- 
ery. The road then passed in front of the finest dwelling 
houses on the river, then the property of Gen. John E. 
Schwartz, who had much to do with the militia, and whose 
official uniform was the most gorgeous worn in all this 
region. 

When the government bought the front of the Forsyth 
farm and began to build Fort Wayne, the road was deflected 



163 



from the river front through the farms to the rear, cutting 
across the Williams and the Reeder farms, in the line which 
is followed today. The old Williams farm houses were 
converted into a tavern by the late eccentric 'Squire Samuel 
Ludlow. He called the place Buena Vista hall, in honor 
of Gen. Taylor, and the Whigs of that day put up a great 
pole with a Taylor and Fillmore flag. Zach Chandler was 
one of the leading spirits. The Democrats, not to be out- 
done, put up a pole for Gen. Cass at Abiel Wood's place 
on the Reeder farm, and Robert Henderson displayed a 
large oil painting of Cass in his treaty with the Menominee 
Indians at Green Bay. This picture would be valuable — 
in a historical sense — for the Detroit public library, as it 
contained many portraits of old-time Michigan notables. 
What has become of it it is hard to say. Some of the French 
people, Eli Barkume, Clement Lafrerty or others who 
knew Bob Henderson, can perhaps put inquirers on, the 
track of it. 

Edwm Reeder, a man of great learning and some peculi- 
arities, inclined to conviviality, lived upon his farm, the 
front of which consisted of high banks of sand, comparing 
in elevation to the counterscarp of Fort Wayne. Out of 
this sand bank exuded many springs of pure water. From 
the abundance of these springs the name Springwells was 
derived. Reeder himself, although an Englishman, had a 
romantic fancy for 1 the early French settlors, and was 
always hopeful of having the name Springwells changed 
to Bellefontaine. He never succeeded in doing so. 

The Reeder sand banks have all been leveled, and the 
sand hauled away to make foundations for street pavements 

164 



in the city. In removing the sand the skeletons of Indians 
buried there, and of soldiers of Harrison's army, and those 
of the Americans who campaigned here in 1812, were found. 
The late John Greusel established one of the first brick 
yards on the river in front of the Reeder farm. Previous to 
that the brick used in the city came from yards up the 
River Rouge. 

Passing along the rear of Fort Wayne, the River road 
skirted an extensive marsh, then known as Prairie Ronde. 
The Wabash railroad track now goes through the center 
of it, and the marsh has become the site of the rich truck 
gardens that front on Fort street. Leaving the marsh, it 
passed close to a long Indian mound, a burial place where 
the skeletons of mound builders have been exhumed. The 
skeletons have been described in articles written by Bela 
Hubbard and Prof. Henry Gilman; the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution has published accounts of them. There was little 
of cultivated ground here until one reached the point where 
the River road struck the Rouge, conspicuous by a high 
bluff of sand, which overlooks the great marsh, of late years 
given over to the improving hand of business, prompted by 
the sagacity of Henry B. Ledyard, Henry Russel and their 
associates. On this sand hill stood a solitary tavern, kept 
by the Widow McGregor, then called the Junction house. 
Beyond this the French held sway all the way to Ecorse. 
French ponies in great herds wandered freely all about 
the territory. The owners corralled them once a year 
and branded them with their initials Very hardy little 
beasts, pawing away the snow in winter to get at the 
sweet, dry grass below, and sometimes making trouble to 

165 



the new clearings which the settlers had established. Some 
of these French ponies had speed, particularly the pacers. 
One could see them in all their glory, likewise their own- 
ers, in their manifestations of voluble excitement, at the 
racing on the ice on the long, straight stretch of the Rouge 
that extends past the present glass works. They raced 
their ponies, they hunted mink and muskrats, they gath- 
ered the French pears and cherries, they cultivated their 
little farms, and lived happy and placid lives, not much 
disturbed by modern innovations. 




DETROIT IN 1857. 
From an Engraving Owned by C. M. Burton. 

It was a time of peace and plenty, and about as much of 
happiness as satisfies a simple-minded community, and that 



166 



perhaps expresses all the contentment of life, which of itself 
is the definition of happiness. 



ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

The Stars and Stripes have waved over this city ioo years. 
It is now nearly 200 years since the founding of Detroit. 
It is two years older than St. Petersburg. Nearly one-half 
of this time was under British and French rule. The his- 
tory of the first half is not very extensive, and of but 
little importance, except as it had bearing on the latter 
half. The hundredth anniversary of the hauling down of 
British colors is being celebrated in Detroit today with 
imposing and impressive ceremonies. It is a date that 
should be remembered, in this busy day, apt to be forgotten, 
and the events form a patriotic lesson that is good and 
wholesome. 

It is remarkable that a comprehensive account of this 
event, the most momentous in the history of the great 
northwest, has never been written, or, if written, has not 
been preserved. The territory that by the evacuation of 
Detroit, and the military posts to the north and south 
passed from British to American rule, was greater in area 
than the 13 states that had won independence 13 years 
before after a struggle unparalleled in the history of the 
oppressed in all nations, and yet this event is chronicled 
in our school histories, if mentioned at all, as having 
occurred in 1796, a single line telling a tale of more moment 

107 



to the millions of America than the surrender of Cornwallis. 

Early histories of Detroit have no more than a mention 
of the fact, but probably for the reason that no more was 
known. The date, even, was uncertain until a few years 
ago, when a local historian settled the question by finding 
official correspondence of Col. Hamtramck that was carried 
away when Hull surrendered the city to the British in 1812. 

C. M. Burton has at great expense collected together a 
mass of information concerning Detroit and Michigan from 
the days of Cadillac to the present time. He has found it 
in old bookstores in this country, Canada and England; 
in libraries, and the treasured archives of nations; but wher- 
ever and whenever found he has become the owner if pos- 
sible, and if not, has procured manuscript copies. All these 
books, pamphlets, records, manuscripts, and letters he 
placed at the disposal of the Journal when it asked the 
privilege of compiling a comprehensive report of the events 
of July 11, 1796, and those immediately preceding and fol- 
lowing them. 

To get one fact here, another there; one from a letter 
written within the palisades to a friend at a distance ; another 
from a military order, or a moldy book of travels, in which 
"Ps" are used for "s's," and bring them together chrono- 
logically, required time and patience, but the Journal gave 
both to the work. How well, or how indifferently, that 
work has been done, the public can determine from the 
supplement to this edition. 

It is the first compilation that has ever been attempted, 
but it is unsatisfactory, because the data are not to be 
obtained. It is possible that the journal of Gen. Wayne 

168 



contained a graphic description of how the crestfallen Brit- 
ish marched out with trailing arms and silent drum, and 
how the Americans triumphantly entered the fortress to 
the music of "Yankee Doodle''; how the soldiers cheered 
and the eagle screamed when the Stars and Stripes rose 
proudly to the top of the flagstaff at high noon of that day, 
but, unfortunately for the writer of evacuation day history 
ioo years after, the volumes of "Mad Anthony's" reports 
for 1796 have disappeared from the national library and 
cannot be found. 



A LEGEND OF 1796. 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

One of Maj. Gladwin's soldiers at Fort Pontchartrain, 
Detroit, a little over ioo years ago, was Sergt. Jimmie 
Campbell. He had said a lover's adieu to Mary Macdonald 
when he left Boston to join his regiment at Detroit For 
many months after leaving Boston he heard from her often. 
She ceased to write, and Jimmie heard no more of her 
until finally he learned that she was to be married to Capt. 
Charles Stewart, who had been Jimmie's rival, and whom 
Mary had once rejected. The thought of this made Jimmie 
reckless. His yearning for a perilous exploit was gratified 
a few hours later. A vessel with reinforcements and pro- 
visions was en route from Fort Erie to Fort Pontchartrain. 
Maj. Gladwin feared that it would be surprised and plun- 
dered by the allied tribes of the Hurons, Wyandottes and 
Pottawattomies. He then learned through J. D. Baby, a 

169 



trader, whose agent, Laflamboise, had located the tribes, 
that his fears had been well grounded. Sergt. Campbell 
knew that Maj. Gladwin wanted a warning given to the 
captain of the vessel. He was an expert with a canoe, 
and when he volunteered to do the hazardous task Gladwin 
accepted. The young sergeant started for Riviere au Can- 
ard. He affected the guise of a trader. He found the 
Hurons, Wyandottes and Pottawattomies camped on the" 
two banks of Riviere au Canard. The warriors were mak- 
ing bows and arrows of the young hickory. The squaws 
were twisting deer skin and the inner bark of elm for bow 
strings, and tying wild turkey feathers on the arrows, and 
the poisoned flint barb was being inserted in slit and tied 
with the finest thread of the raccoon gut. Meeting the 
daughter of a Huron chief, Campbell gave her many strings 
of beads, gaudy cloth and bracelets. 

"You braves are very busy. Why is it?" 
"When the vessel of the pale face reaches Turkey Island, 
braves take her." 



Campbell hastened down the river to the vessel, which 
was making such slow progress in a calm that he decided 
to return in advance of her and watch the Indians. Camp- 
bell had been watched by Indian scouts, and when he 
returned to Canada he was captured, and after the attack 
was made and disastrously repulsed he was sentenced to 
death as a spy. A rescuing party found him afterwards with 
an arm and leg mutilated so that they had to be amputated, 
and his face was shockingly disfigured, but he was alive. 



170 



He was taken to Fort Pontchartrain. A message awaited 
him. It was from Mary, and said that she had left Bos- 
ton for Detroit. She explained her long silence by saying 
that she had been thrown from her horse, her brain being 
affected by the injury; fever had set in, and then followed 
one of those remarkable cases that physicians know 
instances of where a patient's memory has become blank 
to a certain date, and memory distinctly recalls everything 
prior to that date. So Mary claimed she had forgotten 
Jimmie, remembered only her first sweetheart, Capt. Stew- 
art, and became engaged to marry him. It was upon her 
wedding morn, she claimed, that her memory returned, and 
she was now coming to see Jimmie. 

Jimmie read the note again and again. 

"Too late, too, late!" he said, with childlike sobs. 



Next day the door of Jimmie's room was gently opened 
and a beautiful girl entered. It was Mary. The sunlight 
shed its lustre around her, and it shone upon Jimmie. Mary 
had been told nothing of her sweetheart's condition. As 
she looked upon his disfigured face, once so handsome, 
and his mutilated limbs, she became dazed, startled, and 
with a feeling of horror she uttered a cry of anguish and 
rushed from the room. 

The regimental physician found the laudanum bottle 
empty beside Jimmie's bed, and they buried him with mar- 
tial honors. 



171 



CAUSE OF THE DELAY. 

(From the Detroit Journal, July 11, 1896.) 

As stated in another article, the independence that was 
won for the east by the success of the armies of the colonies 
in 1783 was not extended to the northwest territory until 
1796, when the Jay treaty went into effect and the bound- 
ary line was established. 

Prof. A. C. McLaughlin, in a paper read before the 
American Historical Association in 1894, on "The Western 
Posts and the British Debts," gives the reasons why Eng- 
land retained possession of this territory for 13 years after 
the close of the Revolution. 

A preliminary treaty of peace was agreed upon by repre- 
sentatives of Great Britain and the United States at Paris, 
November 30, 1782, but a definite treaty was not signed 
until September 3, 1783, and was not ratified by congress 
until January 14 following, or by Great Britain until April 9. 
This instrument provided that Great Britain should, "with 
all convenient speed," withdraw all her armies, garrisons 
and fleets from the United States, and from every post, 
place and harbor within the same." 



Hostilities had ceased, under an armistice, January 20, 
1783, and Gen. Carleton was ordered to vacate New York 
as early as April, but it was November before the last 
of his troops were withdrawn. In July of that year Gen. 
Washington sent Gen. Steuben to Quebec to request a 
transfer of the posts in the northwest. Gov. Haldimand 



172 



refused to consider the matter of evacuation, on the ground 
that he had received no orders on the subject. In March 
of the next year Gov. Clinton, of New York, sent Col. 
Fish to Gov. Haldimand with a request that he be notified 
when his majesty intended to evacuate the posts within that 
state. Haldimand replied that the treaty being with con- 
gress, it would be inadmissible to grant the posts to a single 
state. 

In June, Gen. Knox, made a formal demand in the name 
of the United States, but without result. It was claimed 
by Haldimand that the United States had not complied 
with the treaty; that the Indians and royalists were opposed 
to a change of masters, and that the fur trade at Detroit 
and other points would suffer from a change. It was also 
claimed that the loyalists were persecuted by the Americans 
and their estates confiscated. 

In August, 1785, John Adams, the American minister, 
was told by Pitt at London, that the delay in evacuating 
the posts was due to impediments interposed by the Ameri- 
can states to the recovery of debts due to British creditors, 
to which Adams replied that nothing of the kind was stipu- 
lated in the treaty; that no government ever undertook to 
pay the private debts of its subjects. Prof. McLaughlin 
savs: 



"'Doubtless the Americans had broken the treaty. The 
treatment of the loyalists forms no bright chapter in our 
national history. Several states had laws on their statute 
books which prevented the ready recovery of debts by Brit- 

*73 



ish creditors. The war left the country in a condition of 
financial demoralization. It is not surprising that the 
foreign merchant, who seemed in some of the states to hold 
a permanent lien on property and to be a lasting drag on 
progress, should find statutes and stay-laws blocking his 
path. In October, 1786, Jay made a report to congress 
in which he found many of the charges true. In November 
he wrote to Adams as the result of his inquiries into the 
conduct of the states that there had not been a single day 
since it took effect on which it has not been violated by 
one or other of the states." 

Jay further declared that "deviation on our part preceded 
any on the part of Great Britain," and added that England 
was not under obligations to evacuate our territory until 
after the ratification of the treaty of peace, and the acts of 
some of the states he considered the first violation of the 
treaty. 

In 1787, upon the suggestion of Jay, congress passed an 
act recommending to the several states that all laws repug- 
nant to the treaty of peace be repealed. This was done by 
all the states, though Virginia made her repealing act con- 
ditional upon England giving up the posts. 



When Washington became president he requested Gov. 
Morris, who was in London, to represent to the British 
ministry that the new federal court had been given full juris- 
diction over cases arising under the treaty, and to ask the 
ministry what objections remained to fulfilling its terms. 
As a result of this interview England sent a minister to this 
country, and he and Jefferson entered upon a consideration 



i74 



of the differences to a substantial ratification of the treaty. 
Hammond demanded that all debts be paid, and confiscated 
estates of tories restored. Congress had recommended that 
this be done, and Jefferson contended that this action con- 
stituted a fulfillment of the treaty, because recommendation 
was all our commissioners promised. 

When Jay went to England in 1794, England was at 
war with France, and did not deem it best to provoke an 
alliance of the United States with that country. The In- 
dians were continually committing depredations, and the 
Americans charged that they were incited to hostilities by 
the British within our borders. The Americans were ripe 
for war, and Jay found the British ministry ready and will- 
ing to agree upon terms of permanent peace. The treaty 
then negotiated provided for the evacuation of all frontier 
posts on or before June 1, 1796, and for a commission to 
determine the amount of debt due British merchants, which, 
in case collection had been hindered by lawful impediments, 
was to be assumed by our government. 



LA MOTHE CADILLAC, 

HOW HE CAME TO FOUND A SETTLEMENT HERE. 
( From the Detroit Journal July 11, 1896.) 
How long there had existed an encampment at the spot 
on which Detroit now stands, there is now no way to 
determine. Certain it is that when Cadillac came in 1701 
he was met by a handful of coureurs-de-bois, who were 
living here and trading with the savages. 



i75 



It is to Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac that we owe the 
founding of this beautiful city of ours, though someone 
sooner or later, in the general colonization of the new world, 
must have perceived the advantages, both military and 
commercial, of the site. 

Lamothe Cadillac, as he signed himself, was born in a 
little hamlet in the southeastern part of France. Other 
than the date of his birth, March 5, 1658, and his baptism 
five days later, we have no authentic facts concerning 
his life, until we find him in the new world, a lieutenant in 
the king's service, marrying beautiful Theresa Guyon, the 
daughter of a Quebec merchant. After distinguishing him- 
self by energetic service in Acadia, he received from Fron- 
tenac command of the fort and Indian mission at Mackinac. 
Here it is he conceived the idea which is of such direct 
interest to us. Imbued with the idea that a settlement 
somewhere on the banks of the strait, now called Detroit 
River, would be of the greatest military value, and that in 
time it might be successful as a colony, he secured his 
release from the position at Mackinac and set sail for France 
to present in person to the king his arguments in favor of 
establishing the post. His plans meeting with approval, 
the colonial minister, Count Pontchartrain, gave him the 
necessary authority and allowed him the equivalent of $275 
for building the fort. 

He returned to America in the spring of 1701 and went 
directly to Montreal. After some weeks of preparation he 
set out with 100 soldiers and Canadians, and 25 canoes, 
carrying, besides the men, all that was necessary for the 
construction of the fort and village. De Tonty was second 

,76 



in command. Leaving Montreal, the expedition entered 
the Ottawa River. By ascending this, which gave them 
a path almost directly west, and crossing by land to Geor- 
gian Bay, they reached Lake Huron. 

Finally, after toiling over six weeks against current and 
through forest, on one - beautiful morning in July they 
glided with the, current down the giant river; and, coming- 
out from behind the luxuriously wooded Belle Isle, beheld 
their future home. And as he saw spread before him a 
low hill about 700 yards from the river, stretching along 
for over two miles, and dotted with beautiful groves, what 
visions of a great city, with a stately avenue on that ridge, 
must have passed before the eyes of Cadillac. Landing at 
a small cove which lay where the foot of Griswold street 
does now, the leader staked off the sites of the palisade and 
magazine, and by sundown Frere Constantin summoned 
the garrison of Fort Pontchartrain to their first vespers. 



Surrounded on all sides by 200 miles of semi-hostile 
Indians, with no approach except by water, Detroit's growth 
was necessarily slow. The tide of settlement had not 
reached it. Under 13 different commandants for the French 
king, the number of homes increased very slowly, in spite 
of repeated offers on the part of the Canadian government 
to furnish each settler with farming utensils and to sup- 
port his family for the first year. For we know that even 
in 1805 the number of houses in Fort Pontchartrain, as it 
was still called, was something less than 200, and the 
greater part of these were within the stockade, clustered 



77 



about the little street called Ste. Anne, which, though only 
30 feet wide, lay in almost the same position as Jefferson 
avenue does now. There was one house of two stories 
near the center of the stockade. 

Up to 1760 the French had succeeded in little more than 
keeping possession of the position. Now in the French 
and Indian war at the surrender of Montreal, and with it 
the whole northwest territory, our city passed into the 
hands of the English. The condition of the inhabitants 
underwent no change at all, as a fact, except that occasioned 
by their taking the oath of allegiance to Great Britain, 
and the removal of the French troops. 

But at this change to control by the arrogant English, 
the Indians, who had with such difficulty been kept in peace 
by the conciliatory policy of the French, aroused by the 
burning eloquence of Pontiac, hatched a scheme for getting 
possession of all the land held by the English. Detroit, in 
Pontiac's well laid plan, was to be taken by treachery. In 
the simultaneous attack on all the forts from Mackinac to 
the east, Detroit, with one other station, held out. How the 
plan failed because of the forewarning given by Catherine, 
the O jib way girl, we all know by heart. Now com- 
menced the six months' siege, during which the defeat of 
a part of the garrison at Bloody Run happened, and our 
beautiful pleasure ground, Belle Isle, was converted into 
a slaughter yard by the massacre of a detachment who were 
captured while coming as a reinforcement for the worn-out 
garrison. Finally, after the news of the treaty of peace 
between France and England, the Indians lost heart and 
slowlv drew off. 



178 



A few years after this, during the American Revolution, 
Maj. Lernoult, who was stationed here with 500 men, 
erected a large earth fort on the ground which is now 
covered by four squares directly in the rear of our city 
hall. This fort was called Lernoult until during the war 
of 1 81 2, when it was changed to Shelby in honor of the 
hero of the Battle of the Thames. About this time, instead 
of "The Village on the Strait," the city began to be styled 
simply Detroit. 

In 1783, by the treaty acknowledging the independence 
of the states, Detroit was claimed by the new government. 
This was disputed by the Canadian authorities, and in the 
other difficulties which the new republic was undergoing 
no resistance was made to the British, who obstinately re- 
mained in the fort until 1796, when the boundary on the 
whole northwest territory, including Detroit on the Ameri- 
can side, was definitely placed by the Jay treaty. On the 
nth day of July, 1796, the British troops withdrew from 
Detroit. 

A few days later, when Capt. Porter, with a detachment 
of Wayne's army, took possession, they found the wells 
choked up with stones and all the windows in the barracks 
broken by the British soldiery in a feeling of chagrin and 
defeat. 



179 



!M8 



